Criminology and Criminal Justice  

While Criminology and Criminal Justice forms one of the most popular Social Science subjects, the comparative method elicits additional insights. You have the advantage of a flexible programme, enabling you to develop an international and comparative perspective on crime and justice through cross-national approaches and case studies of other societies, and / or ‘cutting edge’ issues in Contemporary Criminology and Criminal Justice.

The MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice engages with the complex problems raised by crime, justice and the pursuit of criminal justice in our contemporary world, exploring topics from organised and transnational crime, wildlife crime, and human trafficking to terrorism, as well as national responses to these crimes through transnational and global policing and international forms of justice of the International Criminal Court and transitional justice. It gives you the opportunity to study critical developments, debates and responses in the field of crime and criminal justice. The issues raised by crime and justice today present new challenges for legitimacy, security and social justice. Our MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice allows you to study those challenges in local, international and global contexts, engaging with theory and research to understand and respond to those challenges.

This course prepares you for a wide range of employment including:

• Law-enforcement agencies: the police, customs, the prison service.
• Public administration: including crime prevention units, offender management, general administration, international institutions.
• Political associations, work for members of parliaments, for lobby groups related to the criminal justice system and to issues of social justice broadly conceived.
• Research institutes, researching criminological and sociological issues.
• Academic institutions such as universities.

*Please note that some professional career paths may require further studies / training / qualifications.

The staff within the area of Social Sciences provide a stimulating and supportive environment for postgraduate training. The emphasis is on small groups, close working relationships between students and supervisors, and development towards full professional participation in the subject area. Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Bangor is focussed on comparative study at several cross-cultural levels: national, international and rural-urban comparisons are three of the most important ways in which Comparative Criminological work is undertaken. For research students we can provide both a full research training programme and high quality expert supervision across a broad spectrum of subjects.