Law with Criminal Justice with Placement Year

Law with Criminal Justice is a degree that combines the disciplined study of legal systems and doctrine with an analytical focus on how criminal law operates in practice, how justice is administered, and how the criminal process affects individuals and communities. Law equips you with the ability to read statutes and cases, to construct legal arguments, and to understand the structure of the English legal system. Criminal justice broadens that frame, drawing on criminology, sociology, and public policy to examine policing, courts, sentencing, prisons, and the experiences of offenders and victims within those systems.

At Brunel University London, this four-year full-time programme incorporates a placement year, giving you the opportunity to work within a legal, criminal justice, or public sector organisation before your final year. Strong industry links and specialist law careers support are built into the degree, helping you translate your academic work into professional direction. You will study contract law, criminal law, tort, public law, and human rights alongside modules that examine the criminal justice process, penology, and the social and political dimensions of crime and punishment.

The placement year is a particularly significant feature of the degree: it provides real-world context for your studies, gives you professional experience to draw on in your final year, and demonstrates to employers that you have worked in a relevant environment.

Graduates from this degree are well prepared for careers in law (including the route to qualification as a solicitor or barrister through further professional training), the probation service, the Crown Prosecution Service, the police, courts administration, policy roles in government and the voluntary sector, and a wide range of other public-facing roles where legal knowledge and an understanding of the criminal justice system are valued. Postgraduate study in law or criminology is also a natural continuation.