Handbook

The criminal justice system is the primary mechanism through which the state processes and responds to criminal offending. The values that underpin the criminal justice system tell us about our broader social and cultural values, and allow us to locate them within an historical and political context. This subject offers a detailed examination of the institutions of criminal justice - the police, the courts, the penal system and the ways in which individuals and groups are process through them. The subject explores the values and principles that influence the formal administration of justice and the forces that drive vulnerable groups into the justice system at a high rate. Alongside knowledge about the nature and operation of criminal justice, students who complete this subject will develop key skills including an ability to define key criminological concepts, locate and use high quality sources of information about crime and justice, describe and analyse justice processes and their uneven impacts and communicate their developing knowledge in a variety of forms.