Master of Law - Criminal Justice

The LLM Criminal Justice studies how criminal law works as a system rather than a statute book: criminal evidence and procedure, sentencing and penology, comparative criminal justice, miscarriages of justice, and contemporary problems such as cybercrime and terrorism offences. Leicester De Montfort Law School teaches the course alongside an active criminal justice research community, and casework materials draw on English appellate decisions and Criminal Cases Review Commission files.

Students develop applied research craft — analysing trial transcripts, evaluating evidence rules against real appeals, and constructing reform arguments — and the dissertation lets them go deep on one system question, from forensic evidence reliability to pre-trial detention. The source export records IELTS 6.5 overall (5.5 minimum per band) for this course, above the university’s standard profile, reflecting the reading and writing load.

DMU’s pro bono and innocence-project tradition matters particularly for this LLM: supervised casework reviewing potential miscarriage claims has run at the law school for years, and criminal justice students are the natural volunteers, converting seminar theory into file work that interviews for paralegal and analyst roles reward. The £17,950 fee places the course below both the commercial and human rights LLM streams.

The candid career note: criminal law practice in England is financially strained at the junior end, and several public-sector criminal justice careers restrict eligibility by residency, so international graduates typically route into paralegal work, analytical roles with forces and agencies, or policy positions, at roughly £22,000–£26,000 to start. Completing this taught LLM qualifies graduates to apply under the Graduate Route — two years if the application is lodged by 31 December 2026, 18 months thereafter — and taught students cannot bring dependant family members.