The Master of Arts (MA) degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology provides students with a cutting edge education that will prepare them to assume leadership roles in criminal justice and related agencies as well as to pursue more advanced educational opportunities.

The master's degree requires 30 hours of coursework, consisting of four required and six elective courses. Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA.

The four required courses are:

• CJC 401—Politics and Policy Analysis in the Criminal Justice System
• CJC 402—Theories of Criminal Behavior
• CJC 403—Program Evaluation and Research Methods
• CJC 404—Applied Data Analysis and Interpretation (3 credit course)

Students also take five elective courses and have the flexibility, in consultation with the Graduate Program Director, to select among those offered within the Department as well as from other programs such as social work, psychology, women's studies, public policy, or sociology.

The program offers students two tracks: a thesis option (CJC 501) and a research paper option (CJC 408). The former is available to students who attain at least an A- in Program Evaluation and Research Methods and receive approval from the graduate committee. Students in the non-thesis option must complete a major research/policy paper that assesses competency in integrating knowledge across courses.