Program Overview

BA (Hons) Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

Why study this course with LJMU?

• A unique degree which examines the interaction between criminal law and criminal justice disciplines
• Gives you the opportunity to assess how criminal law legislation impacts on real world criminal justice policies and practices
• Teaching from supportive, internationally recognised legal professionals and criminal justice writers and practitioners
• Work placements and voluntary work opportunities to enhance your graduate employability
• Variety of field trips and visits from local employers working in legal and criminal justice professions
• Opportunities to study in Europe as part of the University's Erasmus / Go Global programme
• International Foundation Year course available offering direct progression onto this degree programme
• Follow our student stories on Instagram

About your course

The BA (Hons) Criminal Law and Criminal Justice programme at Liverpool John Moores University is the ideal preparation for a range of fascinating careers in both the legal and the criminal justice sectors.

Many of your tutors have professional frontline experience of working in the criminal justice system or researching law and criminal justice, with international reputations for research and writing, giving you a solid grounding in both areas.

While this course prepares you for a career in the legal profession following completion of professional training programmes for solicitors, it also develops vital personal skills in teamwork, communication, writing and time management, so that you are more than ready to face the challenges of a range of careers should you decide that law isn't for you.

We encourage you to organise a placement for your final year as it will give you vital experience of how the criminal law and criminal justice system work in practice. For the same reasons, we recommend that you undertake some form of voluntary work during your time at LJMU and/or apply to take part in the University's Study Abroad programme to see how legal systems work in another country.

As the course progresses, the modules become more focused on preparing you to work in the legal or criminal justice systems, and in your final year you will be able to specialise in the areas that interest you most, whether they be vocational or more abstract topics.

Course modules

Year 1

• Criminal Justice System (20 credits)
  • The module aims to explore the criminal justice process in England and Wales.
  • Students will learn about: police powers, including the power to stop and search; crime control and due process models of policing; sentencing and punishment.
• Criminological Theory (20 credits)
  • This module will provide students with an understanding of historical and contemporary criminological theories, and highlight how these have shaped and influenced the modern day criminal justice system and responses to crime and deviance.
• Media, Public and Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • This module introduces students to the relationship between the media, the public and issues of criminal justice.
  • It will demonstrate how the media influences 'common sense' assumptions and political decision making around crime and justice.
  • It will also highlight the importance of 'the public' in the contemporary criminal justice sphere.
• English Legal System (20 credits)
  • This module aims to introduce students to the basic structures and values which drive the English legal system in practice.
• Skills for Success in Law and Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • This module aims to assist students in developing the knowledge and skills necessary for successful study on a programme focusing on law and criminal justice.
• Human Rights, Social Justice and the Law (20 credits)
  • This module aims to raise student awareness of concepts, values and definitions relating to both human rights and social justice.
  • After looking at competing definitions of human rights and social justice, the module considers how both frameworks influence English criminal law and English criminal justice, and how both could be used side-by-side to use criminal law and criminal justice as tools for building a better and fairer society.

Year 2

• Professional Development in Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • The aim of this module is to provide students with the ability to develop self-awareness and identify skills to improve their employability in criminal justice and allied areas.
  • Students will also gain an understanding of the relationship between theory, policy and the experience of practice in various criminal justice agencies.
• Crime, Law and Criminalisation I (20 credits)
  • This module is designed for students who are studying criminal law alongside criminal justice modules.
  • It aims to provide a critical discussion and analysis of the basic substantive criminal law (in terms of relevant case and statute law), but also aims to relate the substantive criminal law to its application in the criminal justice process in practice, as well as to its socio-legal context in wider society.
• Crime, Law and Criminalisation II (20 credits)
  • This module builds on the knowledge gained by students in previous modules by critically examining a range of specific criminal law offences and their implementation and enforcement in English criminal justice practice.

Year 3

• Criminal Justice Futures: Employability Skills for the Workplace (20 credits)
  • This module implements LJMU's employability strategy by delivering work-based learning to students which relates to their academic studies and their onward employability plan, thereby allowing them to develop examples of skills development and learning with a live employer-driven brief.
• Optional modules
  • Contemporary Issues in Prisons and Probation (20 credits)
  • Youth Justice (20 credits)
  • Substance Use, Society and Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • International Criminal Law and State Crime (20 credits)
  • Criminal Advocacy (20 credits)
  • Advanced Criminal Law: Theory and Practice (20 credits)
  • Policing (20 credits)
  • Dissertation (40 credits)
  • Regulation, Harm and Victimisation (20 credits)
  • Comparative Criminal Justice (20 credits)
  • Green Criminology and Environmental Crime (20 credits)
  • Violence and Society (20 credits)
  • The Criminal Courts - The Search for Equity and Justice (20 credits)
  • Terror and Terrorism: A Critical Exploration (20 credits)

Your Learning Experience

• Teaching Support Assessment
• Excellent facilities and learning resources
• We adopt an active blended learning approach, meaning you will experience a combination of face-to-face and online learning during your time at LJMU.
• This enables you to experience a rich and diverse learning experience and engage fully with your studies.
• Our approach ensures that you can easily access support from your personal tutor, either by meeting them on-campus or via a video call to suit your needs.
• Teaching is via a combination of lectures, smaller student-led tutorials, online activities, hands-on practical experience and private study.

Career paths

• Examples of careers our recent graduates have entered are:
  • Solicitor
  • Local authority legal adviser
  • Media-related work
  • Various legal roles in the private business sector
  • Police officer
  • Police community support officer
  • Trainee probation officer
  • Probation service assistant
  • Arrest referral and bail support team worker
  • Drug and alcohol support worker
  • Prison Service (including prison warden, education officer, drugs support officer)
  • Social work, youth work (and working with young offenders)
  • Victim/witness support worker

Tuition fees and funding

• Home: £9,535 per year
• International: £17,750 per year
• The fees quoted above cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as library membership and student IT support with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources including programme-appropriate software and on campus Wi-Fi.
• The University offers a range of scholarships to support students through their studies.
• You'll find all the information you need on our specialist funding pages, including details of the Student Support Fund and other activities to support with the cost of living.

Entry requirements

• Grades/points required: BBB (120)
• GCSEs and equivalents: Grade 4 or grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics/Numeracy
• A levels: BBB
• BTECs: Extended Diploma: DDM
• Access awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• International Baccalaureate: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• OCR Cambridge Technical: Extended Diploma: DDM
• Irish awards: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• T levels: Acceptable on its own and combined with other qualifications
• IELTS: 6.0 overall with no component below 5.5, taken within two years of the course start date.