Compare Criminal Justice Systems in the UK and the US

The London Study Abroad Program at the University of Nebraska involves a two-week trip to England each May.  The program is open to students enrolled in an upper-division course offered by Criminology and Criminal Justice during the spring semester. Students spend the semester learning about the criminal justice system in England while making comparisons to the system employed in the United States. The knowledge they acquire in the classroom is then “brought to life” upon their arrival in London, England.

In England, students visit with constables and other officials from the London Metropolitan Police Force and hear lectures at New Scotland Yard. They also tour maximum-security prisons and observe trials in both the Magistrates Court and in the Old Bailey Crown Court. In addition, students visit Cambridge, Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon, Windsor, and Warwickshire, and they are provided with the opportunity to visit Edinburgh, Scotland.

Initiated in 1972 by Professor James Kane, and developed by Professor Bill Wakefield for 32 years, the London Program in Criminology and Criminal Justice is one of the longest standing of its kind in the United States. Both the Omaha and Lincoln campuses participate in the program, along with students from University of Nebraska Omaha’s School of Communication, Department of Political Science, and Department of Art and Art History. Approximately 80 students take the trip each year, and more than 2,000 students have participated over the program’s history.

For More Information

Additional questions regarding the London Study Abroad Program can be directed to Mark Foxall, Ph.D., director of the London Program, at markfoxall@unomaha.edu or 402-554-2610.