Criminology

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Introduction

As one of the first UK universities to offer Criminology, Lancaster has long been a leading force within this discipline. Here, we explore how crime is both shaped by and shaping the world around us. From Justice policy to social inequality, we provide a broad range of learning experiences led by world leading, research active academics who bring a critical perspective to this dynamic field.

We also have strong links with criminal justice and third sector organisations, including Lancashire Constabulary, HMP Lancaster Farms, the Lancashire Youth Offending Team, and HMP Kirkham, meaning you can access work, volunteering, and research opportunities.

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Research Spotlight - AI based advances for law enforcement responses to online child sexual exploitation and abuse in south east Asia

This project focuses on upgrading the iCOP toolkit—a live investigative tool used by law enforcement to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. The new version, iCOP 2.0, is being developed to better identify Southeast Asian CSAM, including content shared via livestreams.

Initial evaluations show strong performance, with false positive rates of just 7.9% for images and 4.3% for videos. The toolkit is being developed with a modular design to ensure compliance with varying legal frameworks and to support flexible deployment across jurisdictions.