Author: Graham Pike, Steve Tombs, Victoria Cooper

Activity
30 minutes

Finding the Truth

Updated Tuesday, 7 October 2025

What do you really know about crime? Try our interactive 'Finding the Truth' to dig way beyond the surface of forensic psychology, corporate crime and the prison system.

Find out more about The Open University's Criminology courses and qualifications.

Step into a world of crime

Have you watched enough CSI to know what constitutes as good forensic evidence? Are you a believer of 'don't do the crime if you can't do the time'? How much do you know about workplace accidents? Or perhaps you have other beliefs about the criminal justice system and want to find out more? Step into three very different and immersive stories to find out what you really know about crime.

Select the image above to begin your criminal justice journey.

Instructions

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Interested in criminology? Try a FREE course

Forensic psychology

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Does prison work?

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Introduction to critical criminology

This free course, Introduction to critical criminology, provides a brief introduction to critical criminological thinking. It defines the ways in which critical criminologists take a 'critical stance' on the fundamental concepts, practices and institutions associated with crime and criminal justice systems.

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Criminology beyond crime

This free course, Criminology beyond crime, examines the notion of 'social harm' as an alternative to the legal definition of 'crime'. To illustrate this concept, the course considers developments in Green Criminology, which have sought to examine the problems of global environmental harm and the myriad interactions between human beings and the ...

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Race, ethnicity and crime

This free course, Race, ethnicity and crime, briefly examines the relationships between race and ethnicity, and crime, criminalisation and criminal justice. It considers the relationship between crime and cultural difference; the notion of 'criminalisation' and how its processes affect individuals and their opportunities; and the lived ...

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Author

Graham Pike
(Department of Psychology)
Graham Pike is Professor of Forensic Cognition at The Open University. Since coming to The Open University in 2000 he has worked on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. His research has centred mainly on forensic ...
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Steve Tombs
(Faculty of Social Sciences)
Steve Tombs is a Professor of Criminology at The Open University. Before joining The Open University in January 2013 I worked at Liverpool John Moores University where, since 1998, I was Professor of Sociology. There, over 21 years, I ...
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Victoria Cooper
(Department of Social Policy and Criminology)
Vicky joined the Open University in 2015 as a Lecturer in Social Policy and Criminology. I am the Co-director of theInternational Centre for Comparative Criminological Research(ICCCR), which is an interdisciplinary, cross-faculty ...
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Our honours degree programme in criminology focuses on cutting edge, topical and often contentious issues to do with crime and justice. You'll learn to apply research tools, and access and evaluate qualitative and quantitative data on crime, victimisation and the societal responses to them. With an appreciation of criminological theorising and evidence, you will develop the skills to understand issues of crime and victimisation from new perspectives. You will also develop a critical appreciation of the problems with conventional responses to crime and deviance.

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Nicola Spencer 10 March 2023 6:09PM
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really enjoyed seeing both sides

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Pippa Amat 23 October 2020 12:47AM
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enjoyed this alot.

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Finding the Truth

Step into a world of crime

Instructions

Interested in criminology? Try a FREE course

Forensic psychology

Does prison work?

Introduction to critical criminology

Criminology beyond crime