THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN PRACTICE - 2026/7

Module Overview

This module builds upon students¿ knowledge gained in year 1 of Criminal Law modules 1 and 2 (LAW1029 and1030). This module provides students with an applied understanding of how the criminal justice system operates in practice within England and Wales. Building on theoretical foundations, the module focuses on the practical legal advice and assistance. The roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes of key criminal justice agencies, including the police, Crown Prosecution Service, courts, probation, prisons, and third-sector organisations will be examined. Emphasis is placed on the lived realities of criminal justice work, professional values, ethical challenges, and the impact of policy and legislation on day-to-day practice.
Students will critically explore contemporary issues such as stop and search, the legality of warrants, legal responses towards police abuse of power, breached of PACE Act, advising at the police station and constructing legal based arguments for bail and allocation of trial. The module encourages the development of practical and transferable skills through case studies, simulated scenarios, analysis of real-world documentation, and engagement with current practice debates. By the end of the module, students will be able to connect academic knowledge to professional practice and demonstrate an informed, reflective understanding of criminal justice in action.

The Magistrates¿ Court visit will aid and consolidate students¿ understanding of the theory and enable development of practical and employability skills, such as networking with persons in the legal industry and securing a training contract. This Court visit also feeds directly into the Summative 1.

Module provider

Surrey Law School

Module Leader

KHAN Tehmina (Law)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

¿ Intro course structure and outline, Statutes
¿ Statutes PACE/ Human Rights Act/ Criminal Justice Act
¿ Arrestable offences/Time limits/Search Warrants
¿ Advice at police station-Argent factors
¿ Advise and assist on Bail/ First hearing/Plea
¿ Magistrates¿ Court visit
¿ Understand and advise on Mode of trial/Election
¿ Sentencing aims, principles, guidelines and policies
¿ Prisons/ parole/ probation
¿ Criminal Appeals process

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

n/a

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to allow students to demonstrate that they have successfully met the learning outcomes of the module. The assessment is split into 2 meaningful and authentic assessments, which build upon each other to reflect practice.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Summative 1 ¿ Magistrates¿ Court Visit, Reflection and Report (10%):
A week will be vacated of lectures and workshops to facilitate students to attend a Magistrates¿ Court to observe firsthand the practical side of criminal justice. Attendance is required for a minimum of 9.30am to 1pm. A proforma will be provided to help students structure their reflection and report.

Summative 2- Individual Project (90%):
Using the research and feedback that students will have gained via the formative feedback, students will be expected to apply this material to the problem solving scenarios in the project. Approximately 4-6 fictional documents will be provided, students will have to study and critique them using prior research from the formative and provide legal advice on 3-4 short problem based questions. Maximum work limit of 2000 words.

Formative assessment
Lecture 8 is set aside for the formative. This will enable students to identify relevant caselaw to be used in their final Project. Each student will select cases referenced in a lecture and explore it in depth. They will identify the key aspects of the case and outline the process they will follow to apply the caselaw to specific legal issues in order to provide practical advice to a client. This will be a timed assessment of 90 mins.

This exercise will help students identify the most significant elements of both the case and the practical scenario, enabling them to tailor their advice effectively to the client¿s circumstances. Students will submit their work at the end of the 90 mins to surreylearn for feedback.

Module aims

• To develop students¿ understanding of how the criminal justice system in England and Wales operates in practice.
• The roles, responsibilities and interrelationships of key criminal justice agencies, including police, courts, prosecution, probation, prisons, and partner organisations will be examined. Through a legal lens.
• To explore how law, policy, and professional discretion shape decision-making across the criminal justice process based upon legal procedures, statute and caselaw.
• To encourage critical legal evaluation of contemporary challenges facing the criminal justice system, including issues of fairness, effectiveness, accountability, social justice and breaches of legal procedures.
• To enable students to apply legal practical knowledge to real-world criminal justice scenarios and practice-based contexts.
• To support the development of reflective, analytical, and professional skills relevant to employment within the criminal justice system and related sectors.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to ensure that students achieve the modules learning outcomes and develop competencies in the following corresponding aspects of employability, digital capabilities, global and cultural intelligence, sustainability, resourcefulness and resilience. This design include lectures, self-study, workshops practical problem solving sessions, one formative feedback opportunity, and a Magistrates¿ court visit, in order to develop subject specific knowledge and the ability to communicate it to others.

Learning and teaching methods include:

¿ Lectures: The module content will be delivered through 11 live lectures.
¿ Guided Activity feedback: Identifying misconceptions revealed from the guided activity results to help students learn from these and implement changes for the exam. Students are expected to reflect on group and individual feedback, which is an essential component of resilience needed for life beyond the university.

¿ Formative feedback : There will be continuous oral feedback at each workshop on the presentations of the set questions. There will be additional feedback available for the submission of a formative at the assessment at the end of the module. The feedback will encourage students to ask questions and talk through how to approach the final assessment.

¿ Content workshops: These will include active learning through guided activities, small group discussions and link to some additional questions posted for preparation from independent study prior to the students attendance. Such as, in class discussions and debates, problem solving tasks and use of the online sentencing/fines calculator. Students are encouraged and expected to use their prepared information to discuss with others. This includes writing on the whiteboard and presenting to the rest of the class. Students will be developing their communication/presentation and team working skills which are key to success beyond university in all career types. Development of communication skills is directly linked to employability and is a key indicator of student success.

¿ Revision Lecture: This will help students to structure their work accordingly and become more familiar with how tutors mark, whilst receiving formative feedback. Students are expected to share how they may approach questions, building resourcefulness and resilience as students identify where they can improve, while being supported to devise a plan for improvement.

¿ Recorded content: All lectures are recorded, providing students the opportunity to reflect on the contents after the workshop and consolidate their learning. Workshops will not be recorded, nor recreated through an individual tutor meeting. Hence 100% attendance is essential.

¿ Magistrates¿ Court visit: To consolidate the students¿ knowledge and realise their
problem solving activities from the lectures and workshops, a Magistrate¿s court visit has been embedded into the module. This allows the students to arrive at court independently and confidently address legal officers, and explore and link exactly how the learning material translates into practice. Students also have the opportunity to network to enhance their employability beyond your degree programme. The attendance at a Magistrates¿ Court with the uploading of a reflective report will satisfy the summative 1 assessment. A proforma for the report will be provided. No feedback on the report (summative 1) is necessary.

¿ Practical simulation: All activities are based upon real/practical experiences which are drawn upon from the tutor¿s practical experience as a Solicitor and Magistrate. These insights as to practical processes underlying the activities. This also ensures that there is some integration between the digital technologies used to understand the sentencing guidelines and the practical aspects of mode of trial (allocation), bail and the sentencing framework. The practical developed for this module enables students to develop their digital capabilities through the online sentencing guidelines, developing criticality of their own work and developing resourcefulness as they are able to suggest other more relevant or alternative strategies for sentencing.

¿ Independent study: Between lectures, student are expected to refine their knowledge through reading of textbooks and journal articles relevant to module topics, extending their knowledge beyond the course content. Completion of pre-reading and/or formative assessment tasks will help the identification of areas relevant to social, policy, and legal issues of topics to revise or ask for help with (on discussion boards or in person) to improve summative assessment performance. Example texts/ sources will be provided on surreylearn as a scaffold and the rationale for using these will be given to support development of resourcefulness to obtain independently selected further reading.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: LAW2108

Other information

The School of Law is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas: Employability and Skills Development: The module supports the development of analytical thinking, communication, ethical reasoning, and professional awareness relevant to careers in criminal justice, policing, probation, youth justice, and sentencing. Coupled with the development of critical thinking, reasoning, decision-making, assumption challenging, collaboration, leadership, and other transferable skills, the module allows students to acquire and practice attributes that will be attractive to employers in this field. The focus of the assessment strategy will help to prepare students for the realities of the world of work because it allows them to be familiar with how sentencing packages are created and delivered. Resourcefulness and Resilience: The assessment strategy, and indeed the in-class preparation that precedes it, is designed to challenge and stretch student capabilities. It is also one where students understand the roles and perspectives of Judges, Magistrates and other decision-makers, both individually and collectively as a cohort, and latterly by experiencing these roles within smaller groups for their first assessment. Therefore, students will need to exhibit resourcefulness, be able to share ideas and experiences both individually and collectively, appreciate potential barriers and challenges faced by others, and provide support and show empathy towards each other in working towards achieving successful outcomes and responding to problem-based task requirements. Global and Cultural Capabilities: The module requires students to work collaboratively in groups, strengthening their ability to engage effectively with diverse participants across global and cultural contexts. The curriculum addresses important cultural dimensions of legal practice, including potential bias, socio-legal abuses of power, and issues relating to class, poverty, and inequality, encouraging students to develop critical awareness and cultural sensitivity. Digital Capabilities: The module develops students¿ digital proficiency through the use of online research and resources to identify leading and precedent caselaw relevant to advising clients on evidential disclosure and responding to police interviews under caution. Students also engage with online sentencing guidelines and fines calculator to determine appropriate sentences. All assessments are prepared and submitted electronically, further strengthening their digital competencies.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.