School of Law

The Centre for Criminal Justice Studies (CCJS) is an interdisciplinary research institute.

We have developed a sustained track record of international excellence and excel in the production of empirically rich, conceptually sophisticated and policy relevant research. Much of our research is interdisciplinary and often comparative in its insights to certain key criminal justice issues.

The Centre was established in 1987 to pursue research into criminal justice systems and criminological issues. It has since grown to become one of the leading criminological centres of its genre with an established international profile.

Peak of research excellence

The Centre fosters an active and flourishing academic environment for teaching and research. It is recognised by the University of Leeds as one of its key 'peaks of research excellence'. 

Those working within the CCJS have established international reputations in the broad field of criminal justice policy research, especially in the areas of policing, crime prevention, victims, youth justice, cyber-crimes and the supervision of offenders.

External links and funding

Since 2001, the CCJS has been awarded external research funding of approximately £2.5 million. This includes some recent large scale awards from the Ministry of Justice and the Nuffield Foundation.

It has also attracted a number of prestigious awards from diverse research funding bodies including the ESRC, AHRC, European Commission, Nuffield Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Leverhulme Trust.

Part of a global network

We have good international research links, notably through the Worldwide University Network and we are an institutional member of the Groupe Européen de Recherches sur les Normativités, a leading international research network funded by the French CNRS. The CCJS also has formal links with the Institute of Criminology at Sydney University.

The Centre has an Advisory Board with more than twenty members drawn from key senior positions within criminal justice research users and sponsors, including the police, judiciary, probation service, prisons and the courts.