Requirements

Requirements

The Master of Science with a major in Criminal Justice degree program is open to persons holding bachelor's degrees in a social science field from regionally accredited colleges and universities and whose undergraduate work has been of sufficient quality and scope to enable them to successfully pursue graduate study.

An undergraduate degree in criminal justice is preferred; however, if the undergraduate degree is other than criminal justice, a core of criminal justice prerequisite courses will be required. At the discretion of the SPS Director of Criminal Justice, these course prerequisites may be waived for applicants who have a significant amount of documented professional experience with a criminal justice agency.

A candidate for the master's program must have the following:

• A Bachelor of Science degree (or equivalent) with a general education component from a regionally accredited institution.
• A minimum composite undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 of a 4.0 scale.
• An official transcript showing a bachelor's degree awarded by an accredited college or university with an acceptable grade point average.

A maximum of six hours of credit from another accredited graduate program may be transferable, upon approval of the SPS dean. Graduate courses taken and applied to the Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice will not apply to the graduate program.

The Master of Science in Criminal Justice now offers two concentrations, Public Administration and Emergency Management. Both concentrations include 15 credit hours of additional requirements.

The Core courses for this program are listed underneath the two different program requirements.

Public Administration Concentration (15 Credit Hours total)

CRJ 603 Theory and Practice of Public Administration
CRJ 613 Public Organizational Behavior &
Human Resource Management
CRJ 623 Governmental Accounting, Finance & Budgeting
CRJ 633 Assessment & Strategic Planning for the
Public Sector
CRJ 693 Public Administration Demonstration Project

Emergency Management Concentration (15 Credit Hours total)

EM 503 Advanced Principles of Emergency Management
EM 513 Seminar in Hazard Mitigation
EM 623 Comprehensive Risk Assessment
EM 653 Managing Disaster Relief
EM 693 Emergency Management Demonstration Project

Core Requirements

CRJ 503             Seminar in Law and Social Control
An introduction to legal theory and the moral, practical and legal implications of law as a means of maintaining social order.  The course will also examine the impact of economic and political forces on social control.

CRJ 513             Criminology 
The study of the nature, extent, cause and control of criminal behavior.  Students will examine the ways in which crime is measured, identify various crime typologies, and explore a wide range of crime causation theories. 

CRJ 523             The American System of Justice
An examination of the core components of the criminal justice system: courts, law enforcement, and correctional agencies.  Particular emphasis will be placed on the interrelationship between the various components as they attempt to meet their individual mandates. 

CRJ 533             Criminal Justice Policy Formation and Analysis
A study of the methodology behind law, statute, and policy creation in the public criminal justice arena.  Includes a discussion of the American political system and an evaluation of key public policies that impact the justice system.

CRJ 543             Research, Planning, & Program Evaluation
An introduction to the way agencies gather, examine, and interpret information; the methods they use to evaluate that data; and the process they use to create and monitor internal programs.

CRJ 553             Applied Statistics for Criminal Justice
The study of data analysis as it relates to the social sciences.  Topics will include inductive and descriptive analysis, sampling, and methods of evaluation.  The emphasis will be on practical application of statistics to criminal justice situations.

CRJ 593             Demonstration Project Capstone
An in-depth application of the concepts contained in the core courses.  Under the direction of a criminal justice faculty member, the student will design, research, and complete a project that will then be formally presented to a committee of at least two full-time or adjunct professors.