| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2025-09-01 | - |
Program Overview
Program Overview
The LLM/MSc in Criminal Justice and Penal Change is a postgraduate program that provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues surrounding criminal justice and penal change. The program is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities necessary to analyze and address the challenges facing the criminal justice system.
Key Features
- The program is unique in its approach, focusing on pressing contemporary national and international issues of policy and practice.
- Students can choose to graduate with either an LLM or MSc, depending on their academic background and career goals.
- The program offers flexible study options, including full-time and part-time study, as well as early evening classes.
- Students will learn from a world-class teaching team, comprising experts in the fields of policy and practice.
- The program is suitable for practitioners working in law, justice, and welfare areas, as well as professionals developing justice policy and recent graduates in law, social sciences, and humanities.
Course Content
The program provides scope for flexibility within an overall framework, with compulsory classes and elective modules. The compulsory classes include:
- Justice & Penal Decision-Making: This module examines the moral and empirical bases of decision-making around the globe, including topics such as legitimacy, discretion, rehabilitation, and desistance.
- Punishment & Processes of Penal Change: This module explores the nature, dimensions, and national permutations of the western world's "penal crisis," as well as putative solutions and likely obstacles to their realization.
Elective Modules
Students can choose from a range of advanced option modules, including:
- Restorative Justice: This module provides an opportunity for advanced learning on restorative justice, including its application to criminal harms and its potential to produce more positive outcomes for both offenders and victims.
- Childhood & Crime: This module critically examines key aspects of youth justice law, policy, and philosophy from a range of perspectives.
- Homicide: This module examines the legal, historical, and social science perspectives on homicide, including the latest evidence on homicide and its prevention.
- International Criminal Justice: This module provides students with an opportunity to develop a deep, critical awareness of the various legal, social, and political strategies, mechanisms, and institutions that have been developed to deal with crimes with an international or transnational dimension.
- Offender Supervision & Management: This module enables students to gain the necessary knowledge, understanding, and skills to critically engage with theory, research, and contemporary debates about the management of offenders.
- Surveillance, Technology & Crime Control: This module examines the explosion in the use of new technologies to carry out surveillance of citizens in the attempt to manage and prevent crime, including the risks and benefits of such technologies.
Dissertation
The program culminates in a dissertation, which is an extended project of enquiry into an area of the student's own choice. Students will be guided by a member of the academic staff team and will have the opportunity to create knowledge in answer to a question that really intrigues them.
Alternative Options
Instead of a traditional dissertation, students can choose to complete an Enhanced Research Proposal, a Professional Internship, or a Professional Project. These options provide students with the opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to real-world problems and to develop their skills in research, analysis, and critical thinking.
Entry Requirements
- Academic requirements: A first- or upper second-class Honours degree, or overseas equivalent, in law, one of the social sciences, business, or humanities.
- English language requirements: Students must meet the university's English language requirements.
Fees & Funding
- The tuition fees for the program vary depending on the student's fee status and the mode of study.
- The university offers a range of scholarships and funding opportunities to support students, including the EU Engagement Scholarships and the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Scholarships.
Careers
The program is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities necessary to pursue a range of careers in criminal justice, including advocacy, central government, council of Europe, criminal barrister, defence law, European Union policy analyst, forensic services, judiciary, local government, and prison management. Graduates of the program have gone on to work in a variety of roles, including as criminal justice researchers, policy analysts, and practitioners. The program's focus on critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving also prepares students for careers in related fields, such as social work, law, and public policy.
Research Areas
The program's research areas include:
- Criminal justice policy and practice
- Penal change and reform
- Restorative justice and victim-offender mediation
- Youth justice and child welfare
- International criminal justice and human rights
- Surveillance and technology in crime control
- Offender supervision and management
The program's research is interdisciplinary, drawing on insights from law, sociology, psychology, and politics to understand the complex issues surrounding criminal justice and penal change. The program's research aims to inform policy and practice, and to contribute to the development of more effective and just criminal justice systems.
Learning & Teaching
The program's learning and teaching approach is designed to be engaging, interactive, and challenging. The program uses a range of teaching methods, including seminars, lectures, and group work, to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The program also includes opportunities for students to engage with practitioners and policymakers, and to participate in field trips and visits to relevant organizations.
Student Experience
The program is designed to provide students with a supportive and inclusive learning environment. The program's staff are experienced and knowledgeable, and are committed to providing students with the support and guidance they need to succeed. The program also includes opportunities for students to engage with their peers, and to participate in extracurricular activities and events.
Conclusion
The LLM/MSc in Criminal Justice and Penal Change is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary program that provides students with a deep understanding of the complex issues surrounding criminal justice and penal change. The program's focus on critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving prepares students for a range of careers in criminal justice, and its research areas and learning and teaching approach make it an ideal choice for students who want to make a positive impact in the field.
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