LL215: New Frontiers in Law Enforcement, Crime and Punishment

This course gives students the opportunity to get to grips with cutting-edge issues of law, policy and practice that are defining the future of law enforcement, crime and punishment. The course takes its lead from the most pressing controversies confronting criminal justice policymakers in democracies across the world right now, including abuses of police power, racial injustice, victims’ rights, extreme punishments, the potential (and pitfalls) of AI and predictive technologies. 

In approaching these topics, the course has three defining features:

First, it is comparative. We draw on, and learn from, comparative case studies from across the world (particularly the US, Europe and the UK), and students are encouraged to bring their expertise and experiences from home countries or countries of study. 

Second, it is interdisciplinary. We examine the legal standards that govern the state’s power to control, coerce and punish those suspected (or proven) to have committed crimes. But we do not stop there. Crucially, the course integrates empirical studies offering insight into how laws are exercised by police, prosecutors and judges in their everyday practices. 

Third, it is problem oriented. Class discussions are anchored in mock scenarios, role plays, and reform exercises that require to analysis, evaluate and apply the academic scholarship in a way that influence lawyers, policymakers and criminal justice practitioners – to consider problems, propose solutions and envisage future reform agendas. 

Prerequisites: An introductory course in a social science subject (for example law, history, sociology, politics, international relations, economics), philosophy, or a related discipline.

Level: 200 level. Read more information on levels in our FAQs

Fees: Please see Fees and payments

Lectures: 36 hours

Classes: 18 hours

Assessment: A two-hour hand-written exam at the end of the course (worth 50% of the final grade), and a take-home essay (1,500 words) at the end of the second week (50%).

Typical credit: 3-4 credits (US) 7.5 ECTS points (EU)

Please note: Assessment is optional but may be required for credit by your home institution. Your home institution will be able to advise how you can meet their credit requirements. For more information on exams and credit, read Teaching and assessment

Perhaps you are a budding lawyer or policymaker of tomorrow. Or maybe a future crime analyst or police chief. You could even just be curious to get behind the news headlines to understand how and why the criminal justice system actually functions in the way it does.

Whatever your ambition, this course will give you the skills, knowledge and understanding to better engage with some of the pressing issue in criminal justice. Students who have taken a similar course at LSE Law have gone on to pursue competitive graduate degrees in law and criminal justice, as well as careers in legal practice and public policy.

By the end of this course students should be able to:

• Engage with, and critically analyse, the latest research on law enforcement, crime and punishment from different jurisdictions.
• Understand the specific regulatory techniques of controlling the discretionary power of police, prosecutors, and judges.
• Deconstruct the causes of racial and gender disparities in the criminal justice system, especially from a comparative perspective.
• Identify and explain how latest technologies are improving criminal investigations and sentencing law, as well as generating issues of fairness and transparency.
• Propose reforms and identify challenges in addressing some of the most controversial aspects of the criminal justice system.

The design of this course is guided by LSE faculty, as well as industry experts, who will share their experience and in-depth knowledge with you throughout the course.