Criminal Justice in the United Kingdom

COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN IRELAND AND ENGLAND

Faculty Leader: Ross Allen, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice

Travel Dates: March 6-18, 2024

Class Meeting Times: 12:30-3:30, Dates TBD

Course Number: 56:202:675 (Grad); 50:202:375:I1 (Undergrad)

Program Cost: Approximately $3,300*

 

Comparative Criminal Justice is a course that is designed to teach students about the similarities and differences between the United States and other countries regarding the entire criminal justice system; courts, police (law enforcement), and corrections. This course, with the study abroad aspect, will serve as a way for students to see, first hand, many of the things that helped shape and mold our criminal justice system while being able to learn about the development of criminal justice and how the criminal justice system is used throughout the world. This course is also designed to teach students about the history of the United Kingdom as foundational to understanding all components of criminal justice in America, the organization of the police, the structure of the courts, and the goals of punishment. Students will explore Belfast, Dublin, London, and Cardiff on foot and via public transportation to gain insight into the operation of the justice system, as well as the political system, whose differences from the American political system create different implications for criminal justice.

The travel aspect will give students a way to apply what they have learned abroad to what they have learned in the United States and in the class. By seeing different court processes, speaking to police officers, judges, and other criminal justice officials, and by touring various jails, castles, museums, and other related places, it will go a long way toward helping students visualize the different approaches in the United Kingdom and how the United States has used the United Kingdom Model in developing their own system.

Some of the highlights of the London visit include: touring the Royal Courts of Justice and Inns of Court, visiting Old Bailey, Scotland Yard, a maximum-security prison, meeting with Metropolitan Police and visiting the Tower of London; tourist site visits to various museums and significant buildings; and much more. In Belfast, we will be sitting in on a criminal justice class at Queen’s University, we will meet with the Belfast Organized Crime Task Force, meet with local barristers, judges, and meet with parole and/or probation officers.

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*Program cost is approximate and subject to change. Program cost is in addition to tuition.