Criminal Justice and Criminal Law LLM

Overview

This programme will enable you to develop a sophisticated knowledge of current issues in criminal justice, criminology and criminal law in the UK, Europe and across the globe. It combines cutting-edge compulsory modules with a wide range of optional modules allowing you to tailor your degree to your own particular interests.

Throughout the course we’ll encourage you to:

• examine critical issues in criminal law
• explore the complex and dynamic nature of the criminal justice process
• understand the mechanics of the research process
• consider the rights of individuals within criminal justice processes.

Research insight

This programme is offered within the dynamic Centre for Criminal Justice Studies (CCJS), an internationally-recognised research centre that provides an active and multi-disciplinary environment, whose members are committed to high-quality teaching in criminal justice, criminology and criminal law. The CCJS also excels in the production of research that is empirically rich, conceptually sophisticated and policy relevant. Research is interdisciplinary and often international in its reach.

CCJS academics have conducted research for a range of external funding bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Nuffield Foundation, the Home Office, the Youth Justice Board, the Leverhulme Trust, the European Commission, the National Probation Service and others. Since 2001, CCJS members have been awarded research grants totalling over £10 million. Such projects sustain the established profile of the Centre as a pre-eminent research unit and ensure that our teaching is at the cutting edge of contemporary academic and policy debates.

Course content

Compulsory modules studied throughout the year will introduce you to fundamental principles, theories, concepts and approaches in the fields of criminal law and criminal justice. You’ll also explore and examine the intricate and complex relationships and dynamics between criminological theory, research and practice, and the impact of criminal justice processes on individuals and social groups, often in the wider context of social and political change.

If you are a part-time student, you’ll take four compulsory modules in your first year. You’ll then take the compulsory dissertation module and your chosen one or two optional modules in your second year.

Course structure

For more information and a full list of typical modules available on this course, please read Criminal Justice and Criminal Law LLM Full Time in the course catalogue

For more information and a full list of typical modules available on this course, please read Criminal Justice and Criminal Law LLM Part Time in the course catalogue

_Modules

_{Compulsory modules}

• Criminal Justice Processes
• Contemporary Criminological Theory and Approaches
• Dissertation Criminal Law/Criminal Justice
• Central Issues in Criminal Law
• Postgraduate Legal Research Skills

_{Optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)}

• Security, Conflict and Justice
• European Human Rights
• Cyberlaw: Regulation of Cyberspace
• Globalisation and Crime
• International Human Rights
• Human Rights and Disabled People
• Global Justice
• Theorising Gender
• Understanding Society and Culture
• Power, Critique and Global Transformations
• Rethinking Policing Through Research

Learning and teaching

Our compulsory and optional modules are taught through a range of weekly seminars, lectures and workshops.

You’ll need to prepare for your seminars and lectures, undertaking any exercises that might be prescribed in advance. Independent study is integral to this programme – not just to prepare for classes but to develop research abilities and other critical skills.

Assessment

You’ll be assessed using a variety of methods but for most modules you’ll be required to write an essay of up to 4,500 words at the end of each module. You’ll also be expected to write a final dissertation.

Applying, fees and funding

_{English language requirements}

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

To find out more, read  Language for Law (6 weeks) and Language for Social Sciences and Arts: Law (10 weeks).

_{How to apply}

Application deadlines

UK/EU students: 31 July

International students: 30 June

APPLY (FULL TIME) 

APPLY (PART TIME) 

This link takes you to information on applying for taught programmes and to the University's online application system.

Documents and information you will need include:

• Original or certified copies of your transcripts
• Original or certified copies of your degree certificate
• Original or certified copy of your IELTS/TOEFL results (if English is not your first language)
• Details of two referees.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

_{Admissions policy}

School of Law Postgraduate Admissions Policy 2019

_Fees

• UK/EU: £8,500 (total)
• International: £19,000 (total)

Read more about paying fees and charges.

For fees information for international taught postgraduate students, read Masters fees.

_{Scholarships and financial support}

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Find out more at Masters funding overview.

The School of Law usually offers a number of scholarships each year.

Find out more on the School's scholarships page.

Career opportunities

This programme is particularly suited to those who wish to pursue a career in public service, the private sector, the voluntary sector, or any other arena where success is built upon higher-level skills and advanced knowledge of criminal justice, criminology and criminal law issues.

Recent graduates have gone on to do a PhD and work in academia and in research outside academia both in the UK and overseas. Other alumni hold senior positions in criminal justice organisations including police and probation services, the prison service, and youth justice services, as well as in the private and voluntary sector, both in the UK and abroad.

Visit the Criminal Justice and Criminal Law LLM page on the University of Leeds website for more details!