Criminal Justice

Criminal justice as an academic discipline examines the institutions, processes and policies through which societies respond to crime and administer punishment. It sits at the intersection of law, sociology, psychology and political science, engaging with questions about how the police, courts, prisons and probation service operate, whether they achieve justice, how they treat those who pass through them, and what the evidence suggests about what actually reduces reoffending and harm. It is a field that rewards both analytical rigour and a willingness to engage with difficult and contested questions.

At Nottingham Trent University, this two-year full-time programme is an accelerated route through the subject, designed to provide focused and intensive engagement with the key debates and empirical material of criminal justice in a compressed timeframe. You will study the criminal justice system in England and Wales, theories of crime and punishment, the treatment of victims and offenders, miscarriages of justice, rehabilitation and reintegration, and the evidence base for criminal justice policy. The two-year structure means that learning is intensive and the programme is well suited to highly motivated students who want to move into professional practice or further study promptly.

Graduates work in probation and offender management services, prison services, police support roles, victim support organisations, youth offending teams, social work, rehabilitation charities and policy research. The analytical and research skills that criminal justice study develops are also valued in journalism, local government, public health and academia. Some graduates proceed to postgraduate study in criminal justice, criminology, social policy, law or social work, developing specialist knowledge in a particular area of practice.

The accelerated format of this programme provides an efficient route into a career in a sector where the demand for well-trained graduates continues to grow.