MA/MS in Crime and Criminal Justice: Comparative Criminal Justice

This specialisation studies contemporary developments and challenges in criminal justice from both legal and criminological perspectives, with a cross-national, multidisciplinary scope. Students examine criminal justice itself, defined as the rules, principles, institutions and practices a state relies on to sanction behaviour it considers socially undesirable, comparing systems, legislation and policy across common law and civil law countries. Coursework addresses the social and legal dilemmas facing political and legal institutions as they govern security, guarantee safety and handle crises both within and beyond national borders, and considers how crime control is shaped by actors outside the state and outside the formal criminal justice process. Teaching combines academic staff with professionals from the criminal justice sector, and students take part in field trips to institutions that include the European Parliament, Europol and the Netherlands' Council of State.