Criminal Law is concerned with the most potentially invasive assertion of authority by the state: if people fail to comply with the law, they will be punished.

Providing a holistic analysis of the criminal process through an analysis of the law, its philosophical underpinnings and its operation in practice, this LLM pathway offers the opportunity for broad or deeply specialised study within an innovative research-led teaching environment which benefits from Birmingham's longstanding stature in this field.

Students can study to attain a broad overview of criminal justice processes, or for those wishing to gain in-depth understanding of criminal law and criminal justice, students can specialise in particular aspects as diverse as underpinning theories, policing, health aspects of criminal justice or indeed international aspects of law enforcement co-operation.

The modules on this LLM will allow students to study the five separate objectives used in enforcement of Criminal Law: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restitution taught. All of these are subjects of great debate and controversy across all jurisdictions and students benefit from debating these informed by and in exchange with the University of Birmingham's broad range of experts.