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CRI-20048 - Module Specification
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Business, Law, Humanities & Social Sciences

For academic year: 2026/27 Last Updated: 17 March 2026

CRI-20048 - Challenges and Issues in Criminal Justice
Coordinator: Stephen Jones
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 5
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office:

Programme/Approved Electives for 2026/27

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2026/27

This module examines current and emerging challenges and issues in criminal justice policy and practice, enabling you to understand and engage in debates about the problems facing, and the future of, the criminal justice sector. We will examine contemporary case studies of issues requiring a criminal justice response to prevent, deter or reduce harmful impacts and explore the ways in which we can contextualise, measure and respond to these challenges and issues, while also considering how these challenges may evolve in the future. The module will introduce you to the methods used to evaluate policies and interventions in criminal justice, showing you how these techniques inform policymaking. It will also deepen your understanding of how different public, commercial and voluntary agencies work together in the sector. In keeping with this, the module will include visits from practitioners working in criminal justice to provide the opportunity to network and gain insights into potential future employment.

Aims
This module examines current and emerging challenges and issues in criminal justice policy, process and practice. We will examine contemporary case studies of issues requiring a criminal justice response to prevent, deter or reduce problematic impacts and explore the ways in which we can contextualise, measure and respond to these challenges and issues. The module will include visits from practitioners working in criminal justice to provide the opportunity to network and gain insights into potential future employment.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Critically engage with scholarly and policy debates about criminal justice, prisons, punishment, policing and the police.: 1
Demonstrate knowledge of how individuals work in various criminal justice and related organisations, and the challenges they face.: 1,2
Recognise and illustrate the impact of social change on crime and ways of responding to it through the operation of criminal justice systems, policies and practices and a range of related policy and procedural responses.: 1,2
Reflect on the legal and social justice contexts of doing criminal justice work.: 1
Identify and critically discuss current, emerging and future challenges and trends in the delivery and operation of criminal justice and policing and deploy the ‘horizon scanning’ approach increasingly utilised in evidence-based practice in criminal justice.: 1,2
Explain the principles of, and methods utilised in, evaluative research in social policy and utilise evaluative research when making judgements about alternative policy approaches.: 1
Describe a problem or challenge within the criminal justice system to a range of practitioner audiences.: 2

Study hours

24 hours of lectures
24 hours of seminars/tutorials
48 hours of engagement with online resources and readings to prepare for lectures and seminars/tutorials.
40 hours of preparation and production of summative assessments.
20 hours of work for formative assessment.
144 hours for directed independent study.

School Rules

None

Description of Module Assessment

1: Report weighted 75%
Horizon Scanning Criminal justice report
Students are required to produce a 2500-word 'Horizon Scanning' report which identifies emerging issue/challenge in criminal justice, locates and discusses its emergence, its current manifestations and challenges and its possible future developments and potential impacts on both criminal justice agencies and communities/society. Also includes an evidence-based speculation on possible future interventions/approaches to mitigate the issue/challenge.

2: Presentation weighted 25%
Annotated PowerPoint presenting key findings of the Horizon Scanning report to a practitioner audience
Once students have produced their Horizon Scanning report, they will then produce and submit an annotated PowerPoint presentation with supporting notes. The student will prepare a presentation of key issues identified in their report (i.e., Assessment 1) as if it was being presented to a non-academic audience of multi-agency practitioners and community representatives. The slides with presenter notes will be approximately 1000 words and will summarise and present the arguments, issues and recommendations from their report. The assessment will be of the slides submitted; the student will not be required to verbally present.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 17 March 2026