Crime, Justice & Society

Entry requirements

Our standard offer is a good honours degree (2.2 or above). Applicants from a range of undergraduate subjects will be considered but the course is particularly well-suited to students with backgrounds in the social sciences, especially criminology, sociology and policing-related subjects.

To apply you’ll need to submit a brief personal statement outlining interest and areas of specialism being considered, as well as a complete CV. The University has a well-established Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) and Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) structure in operation. Students without previous qualifications may be accepted as part of this process.

If you are unsure whether your qualifications are appropriate you can contact our Post Graduate admissions team at pgadmissions@canterbury.ac.uk.

If English is not your first language you require an IELTS overall score of 6.0 with no element below 5.5 for most standard undergraduate and postgraduate courses. There are some exceptions and if the IELTS requirement differs it will be specified on the course page.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Crime and justice are fundamental elements of our social lives. They fascinate the public imagination and pervade political debates, but they are also complex and contested concepts.

Our MSc in Crime, Justice and Society takes a multidisciplinary approach to explore these concepts and their relationship to the social world. Grounded on a multifaceted understanding of justice and informed by criminology, sociology and cognate disciplines (e.g. political science, international relations, philosophy), it will explore the complexities of justice and crime as social phenomena.

You will uncover the ways they both include and extend well beyond the notion of individual law-breaking. You will also apply your knowledge to examine contemporary controversies relating to justice and crime, using research evidence and theoretical concepts to consider their real-world implications and even solutions!

This masters level course is not only designed to enhance your intellectual understanding of society, justice and crime, but seeks to equip you for professional level career paths in the state, private and ‘third’ sectors thanks to innovative modules and a dissertation that allows you to specialise in a subject of your choice under individual supervision.

Why study MSc Crime, Justice & Society?

This innovative course takes a holistic view to understand the complexities and controversies associated with crime and justice in contemporary society. Through a focus on the key theoretical and empirical dimensions that are central to understanding the societal nature of justice and crime, you will consider justice, and injustice, in their varying manifestations (e.g. criminal, social, political, environmental) and the inter-relations between these. You’ll develop and apply your ‘sociological imagination’ to understand these phenomena in terms of historically contingent social structures that implicate social axes such as class, ‘race’, ethnicity, sexuality and gender. Over the course you’ll develop knowledge enabling you to understand how crime exists across a range of dimensions (social, economic, political etc.), implicating different ‘actors’ from individuals and organisations to institutions and states.

Key modules early in the course will build your knowledge of theories and concepts from criminology, sociology, and cognate disciplines so you can systematically apply them to understand contemporary societal controversies and their implications for justice. These will also develop your skills and confidence as a researcher, enabling you to utilise research evidence to understand how social structures shape crime and justice This grounding in research also provides the opportunity to carry out your own small research study for your dissertation if you choose to.

Throughout the course you will learn in small groups, in which discussion and debate are key to your learning. You’ll study alongside students specialising in criminological subjects but will also take modules that enable you to work with students from a range of social science disciplines, exposing you to multidisciplinary thinking and increasing your opportunities for networking.

You will be taught by lecturers from a range of backgrounds who are actively researching and/or have practical experience of contemporary relevant topics. Consequently, you will leave with key graduate skills, new networks, and a wealth of new knowledge and understanding. No matter what ‘sector’ you decide to work in, you can use your MSc to gain a foothold in a professional career pathway.

All about the course

The course is delivered across three trimesters running from September to September. The first trimester develops your knowledge base in theory and research, expanding on skills and understanding from your previous studies. You will also take a specialist module in which you conceptualise justice in its various dimensions. In the second trimester you study modules that apply key concepts and research evidence to examine more deeply how crime and justice operate at a social level. You’ll examine controversial contemporary issues relating to crime and society as well as exploring key concepts in more depth. In particular you’ll consider how wider concepts, such as human rights and security, have direct implications for crime, justice and society.

Modules are comprised of formal lectures on key themes, including: justice, contemporary controversies, human rights, inequality, power, social class, gender, ethnicity, social structures and human agency.

Based on nationally recognized, award-winning teaching, graduate classes are engaging and interactive. You are encouraged to produce work via different forms of assessment to maximise their transferable skills and employability. These include essays, book reviews, portfolios, oral presentations, role play, simulations, and exams.

Fees and funding

See University website