Reformed societies: UoP to offer criminology, forensic study courses

Institute will be established soon with 50 enrolments

PESHAWAR: Criminals will now be reformed using modern techniques and provided with educational opportunities as well as training in technical skills across the jails of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

This will be done soon as  University of Peshawar (UoP) is going to establish the Institute of Criminology and Forensic Studies and start a masters’ degree programme in criminology from the academic session which will start in October.

Expected outcomes

For this purpose, the K-P government allocated Rs20 million in the 2016-17 budget. The institute will produce graduates that can reform criminals in prisons to make them capable of leading a normal life.

Dr Basharat Hussain, who currently works as a professor at UoP’s Department of Social Work, will look after arrangements at the institute. He told The Express Tribune that a preliminary meeting of the Higher Education Commission’s National Curriculum Revision Committee on Criminology approved the draft curricula of the Bachelor of Science (BS, 4-year program) and Master of Science (MS, two years) Criminology degree programmes in 2015.

Hussain added crime was being committed in all societies, but the rate of its increase is a matter of concern and people must learn from the experience of developed countries to face challenges in an effective manner.

He maintained the institute would provide opportunities to law-enforcement officials and lawyers to gain deep knowledge about different types of crime, their nature and methods of dealing with criminals.

He said admissions were open for those who completed their bachelors of arts and science, while 5% of the quota was reserved for law enforcement agencies.

He also said the institution would provide BS, MS, Mphil and PhD degrees to rehabilitate criminals.

Of practical work

He said that during the internship programme of criminology, students would talk to offenders about the negative aspects of their crimes and convince them to give up such acts to change their life.

In the long-run, prisoners, the police and K-P Reclamation and Probation Department officials will also be trained on how to deal with criminals.

He said the trainings and classes will not only decrease the ratio of crimes in the province, but also produce skilled and responsible citizens.

Hussain said the university administration would decide the right place for the construction of the institute. Initially, they will start classes of criminology at Department Social Work of UoP.

"For this purpose we have an expert staff and initially  50 students." Hussain said, adding that from this academic year, the university will announce admission in the MS two-year and later the BS four-year programmes, while MPhil and PhD classes will start when the institution is established.

UoP Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Rasul Jan said, "For the first time, students will visit jails and take classes on crimes. The aim is to produce a good and healthy society." He added the institute’s students would study the nature of crimes and train criminals to work towards their rehabilitation.

Jan appreciated the provincial government for supporting the idea and allocating a budget for it. He also said the release of funds would start very soon as would construction on the institute.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2016.