Mission Statement
The Criminal Justice Program’s mission is to prepare and empower candidates for careers in and related to criminal justice, to educate students in policy, social issues, and leadership. We graduate leaders that inspire and train others to become leaders.
The online hybrid Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice has been designed to prepare students either for advancement in justice-related professions, particularly as administrative- and management-level officers in law enforcement or as homeland security professionals, or for advanced study in doctoral or legal programs. The degree program provides candidates both with an in-depth understanding of management issues in criminal justice agencies and also with the requisite analytical skills and theoretical knowledge for doctoral or legal studies.
The 11-course, 33-credit hour program can be completed in four semesters (fall, spring, summer, fall). Students will take core courses emphasizing four foundational areas:
- trends in criminal justice,
- policy development and analysis,
- ethics in criminal justice.
In addition, through their elective courses students will have the opportunity for a concentration in either Homeland Security or Strategic Management. Understanding derived from core and elective courses will provide graduates with a solid foundation for dealing with the many critical issues confronting the contemporary criminal justice administrator.
Specifically, candidates who complete the master’s degree in Criminal Justice will be able to demonstrate:
- Advanced knowledge and ability to evaluate criminological and criminal justice theories and their implications for public policy and practice.
- Proficiency in research design and quantitative and qualitative analysis related to evaluation of criminal justice practices, programs, and policies, and the understanding of crime causation generally.
- Competence sufficient to evaluate and resolve the ethical issues in criminal justice practice, policy, and research.
- An ability to synthesize, evaluate, recognize implications, and communicate effectively using scholarly sources of information connected to crime theory and policy.
- An understanding of leadership theories and skills as they pertain to managing and leading criminal justice organizations.
Graduates of the program will be able to identify problems, to develop solutions through the application of criminological theories and policies to varied social issues that contribute to crime, and to implement these solutions within a variety of justice-related agencies.