Crime and Litigation LLM

Modules

• Research methods
  This module is essential to understanding the development, implementation, and analysis of graduate level research in legal studies. It is designed to assure that you have a comprehensive knowledge of research design development, and the ability to review and understand journal articles in various subjects of common law. The ultimate purpose of the Module is to encourage you to become engaged in independent legal research in order to be able to submit successfully the dissertation of 15,000 words by the end of the course. You'll build on the research skills already acquired in undergraduate studies by covering topics such as literature review, research presentation and research evaluation, with an emphasis on practical exercises.
• Criminal litigation
  You'll be introduced to the structure and process of the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales and explores some of the socio-political issues, which arise from the function of the law in practice. You'll be provided with a critical overview of the system of justice and the key procedural decisions that are made within the system. You'll consider the process of justice via practical, classroom (and E-learning) based, engagement with the litigation process and use case studies and group role play to enhance their practical and theoretical understanding of the criminal process.
• Criminal justice
  You'll critically consider the criminal justice system by exploring the role of key players in the criminal justice system such as a) the police b) the Crown Prosecution Service c) defence lawyers' d) magistrates, juries and judges. All those players both individually and collectively will be examined and evaluated.
  Although we will focus mainly on the English criminal justice system, learners will be encouraged to take a wider comparative perspective to the various issues involved, special reference will be made to contemporary elements of victimology and the way the criminal justice system deals with different kind of victims in order to introduce learners to the various ways in which different agents of the criminal justice system deal with victims i.e. police and courts.
• Dissertation

After completing core modules you'll choose from options that reflect the practical/ theoretical and social justice context of the course. Choices are made following discussion with your personal tutor and also guided by your own professional interests and career aspirations.

• International criminal law
  You'll examine the substantive crimes that have evolved in the field of international law with an emphasis on the interpretation and application of international standards in the context of criminal prosecutions. The module will focus both on substantive crimes and on enforcement mechanisms. Specific topics will include sources of international criminal law; individual substantive crimes such as drug smuggling, computer crime, and money laundering; international offenses such as piracy, torture, terrorism and genocide; extradition, evidence gathering and defences under international law; and the international criminal tribunals.
• Evidence/science and technology
  This module will enable you to question experts within these technological and scientific fields with a view to extracting, analysing and testing the evidence that is presented before a court. You'll therefore grapple with how best to present and examine statistical probabilities and you'll study the evidential rules governing the examination of witnesses. This course assumes that you have a basic knowledge of the rules and principles of Criminal Procedure and Evidence. However, an introductory session on the Law of Evidence will familiarise you with the general issues involved.
• Psychological aspects of investigation
  This Module will consider the contribution of psychology to the investigation of crime. It will cover three core areas: offender profiling, detecting deception, and interviewing suspects. Different methods used in offender profiling will be included and teaching and learning will draw heavily upon case studies. For interviewing suspects and detecting deception reference will be made to current theories, research, and practice.
• Decision making in the forensic context
  This Module begins with an introduction to the main areas of social and cognitive psychology which are key for understanding how decisions are made within the forensic context. Such decision making is likely to include police and magistrate bail decisions, jury decision making, and judicial decision making. Additionally factors that affect jury decision making such as pre-trial publicity, perceptions of eyewitness evidence and expert witness evidence will be reviewed.
• Advocacy
  You'll examine the interaction between decision makers in the criminal litigation process and advocates who appear before them. you'll explore the principles of advocacy throughout the litigation process, including trial preparation, constructing and presenting speeches and arguments, working with lay and professional witnesses, using IT and graphics in the courtroom, effective communication and the psychology of persuasion.
• Policing
  The module aims to cover different aspects of policing by addressing key themes in the history, theory and practice of policing and to encourage students to critically consider the nature of policing and the issues affecting it.
  Although the focus of the module is on policing in Britain, learners will be encouraged to develop a comparative perspective by reference to other jurisdictions and to global crime problems such as transnational organised crime and forms of policing.
• Investigative psychology
• Terrorism
  The aim of this module is to explore the role of law in enabling and controlling counter-terrorist action by individual states and the international Community. Therefore, we will adopt a comparative (national) and international (UN) perspective to explore the key issues involved.
  More specifically the course deals with the tools that have been authorized to be used by governmental action against terrorism. We trace the development of the law related to terrorism and we examine the various legislative acts, which now govern the investigation of terrorism, efforts to control the financing of terrorism, detention and deportation of persons who are viewed as threat. The purpose of the module is to enable learners interested in the topic of terrorism to familiarize themselves with the role of law in enabling and controlling counter-terrorist action by individual states and the international Community as a whole.
• Citizenship and combating crime in the EU

Criminal litigation

If you're interested in criminal litigation you may prefer options such as: Advocacy, Evidence, Forensic Science and Technology or International Criminal Law

Criminal justice

Or if you want to focus on the criminal justice system you may prefer options such as: Policing, Terrorism, Investigative Psychology, Forensic Psychology.

• 14 months (taught stage: October-June; dissertation: July-October)
• Full-time; six modules plus a dissertation to be completed July-October

• Part-time: 26 months (taught stage: October-June years one and two. Dissertation: July-October or July to January in year 2)
• Three modules a year for two years; plus a dissertation completed July-January, or, July-October. Students can alternatively opt for the accelerated part-time learning mode (Saturday classes).

All modules (core and optional) achieve a balance between practice, theory and the development of professional skills.