LLM International Criminal Justice & Human Rights at University of Dundee

Do some crimes cry out to be prosecuted trans-nationally? Can human rights make the world a better place? Or is there no hope of criminal justice ever operating effectively at the international level, or of human rights rhetoric leading to real improvements in the way governments treat their people? Whatever your views, if these questions resonate with you, this programme is for you.

Whether you are passionate about international criminal justice and human rights or sceptical about them, you will become fully informed on the underlying issues and be able debate them at a sophisticated level with others.

The international criminal justice side of the programme aims to provide you with a detailed understanding of the key contemporary issues in the field. Organised crime, terrorist activity and regional civil wars transcend national boundaries, impacting far beyond the interests of individual nation states.

The effective detection, investigation and prosecution of crime is increasingly dependent on closer harmonisation and co-operation among global institutions. The human rights dimension of the programme seeks to develop your understanding of the main global systems for the protection of human rights, and your appreciation of the main arguments for and against the universality of human rights, in concept and in practice.

This is a programme both for those interested in the practicalities of criminal justice and human rights at international level and for those seeking to develop an academic expertise in these areas as part of a career in teaching and/or research.

You will have close contact with staff members experienced in and dedicated to their subject. You will have the opportunity in small seminar groups for real engagement with their ideas and the ideas of your fellow students as you develop and articulate your own thinking on international criminal justice and human rights.

Careers

The programme is a valuable preparation for a career in one or more of the international bodies for the administration of criminal justice or the furtherance of human rights, or in national institutions which interface with the international bodies. Equally, the programme would be a natural springboard for an academic career specialising in these fields, an obvious next step being doctoral studies.