From Crime to Punishment: an Introduction to Criminal Justice

What happens when a crime is allegedly committed in England and Wales? Now’s your chance to find out. On this course you’ll follow a suspect through the journey of investigation, prosecution and adjudication. You’ll step inside the courtroom - discovering how criminal justice processes work - and learn about the criminal law and key institutions like the police and the courts.

This course is aimed at those with a good secondary education and an interest in law and/or criminal justice. The level is undergraduate level 1, so equivalent to the first year of a degree course. You do not need any prior knowledge of the field, but a keen interest in criminal justice is essential.

• The idea of 'crime'
• Introduction
• Defining 'crime'
• What should be a crime?
• Representations of crime
• How much crime?
• Quiz of the week
• Meet Joe: introducing our case study
• Investigation and prosecution
• Welcome to Week 2
• Joe's story: the next chapter
• Police and suspects
• Who wants what in criminal justice?
• The prosecution process
• Test of weeks 1 and 2
• What next for Joe?
• The trial
• Welcome to Week 3
• Joe's story continues
• What are trials for?
• Juries: further thoughts
• The criminal law: liability when there is more than one offender
• Quiz of the week
• What next for Joe?
• Sentencing and post-conviction
• Welcome to Week 4
• The next chapter in Joe's story
• Purposes of sentencing: desert and deterrence
• Purposes of sentencing: rehabilitation
• Sentencing: law, guidelines and practice
• Sentencing Joe
• Alternative approaches: restorative justice
• Test of Weeks 3 and 4
• What next for Joe?