Criminal Justice Master of Arts Degree Program
Program of Study
To satisfy requirements for the M.A. degree students must:
- Complete 30 credits of course work with a B (3.0) or better grade point average
- Complete two foundations courses:
Crj 507 Theories of Crime
Crj 540 Theoretical Foundations of Criminal Justice - Complete the support sequence of statistics and research design:
Crj 504 Applied Statistics I or equivalent
Crj 505 MA Research Design or equivalent - Pass the MA comprehensive examination
- Comply with the University’s statute of limitations requirement by completing all study for which credit is applied to the MA, including any transfer credit, within six years
Comprehensive Examinations
The comprehensive examination will require students to demonstrate analytical, integrative, and applied knowledge of the foundational subject matter of criminology and criminal justice, including relevant theory and methodology. The exam question will be distributed to students six weeks prior to the end of the semester in which they will finish the M.A. program. The completed exam will be due one week before the last day of classes in that semester. Each student's exam will then be evaluated by a committee of two faculty members.
Combined Baccalaureate-Master’s Degree Program
Qualified undergraduates may apply for admission to the combined B.A. Criminal Justice/M.A. Criminal Justice program and, if accepted, simultaneously work toward completion of the requirements for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. See Combined Baccalaureate-Master's Degree Programs for details.
Concentration in Information Technology
The information technology graduate curriculum provided by the School of Criminal Justice builds on the School's outstanding reputation as a center of high-level quantitative research in criminal justice. The curriculum is designed to extend and expand the statistical and methodological expertise learned in the traditional sequence of the School's methods and statistical courses.
The 9-credit M.A. Concentration requires:
(1) Ist 523 (Fundamentals of IT) or Inf 523 (Fundamentals of IT)
(2) Crj 692 (Data Utilization in Criminal Justice)
(3) Crj 693 (Geographic Information Systems in Criminal Justice) or Crj 695 (Responsible Use of
CRJ Information)
(4) A non-credit module encompassing data utilization software (focusing, for example, on SPSS)
