Master of Science in Criminal Justice

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of the criminal justice system, substantive criminal law, and the U.S. Constitution. This course may be waived for students holding undergraduate degrees in criminal justice or having completed certain courses.

This course examines criminal justice policies and theories, and structures of the criminal justice system. Research and materials in this course will also be used to explore criminal justice policies and social justice.

This course explores classical and contemporary literature in criminology and criminal justice. Both theory and empirical research will be used to examine criminal behavior as well as the structure, function, and interaction of the criminal justice system.

This course examines the structure, functions, and operations of the constitution and judicial processes. The impact of historical and contemporary constitutional issues on the criminal justice process will also be examined.

This course introduces the use of research methods in the study of criminal justice. The focus is on the examination of the issues related to collecting, analyzing, and using data. Students will study quantitative and qualitative methods, criminal justice data, ethics, inferences, and social justice.

This course introduces students to the intersection between psychology and the criminal justice system. Students will examine major sub-areas of psychology that comprise the discipline of forensic psychology including criminal psychology, legal psychology, victimology, police psychology, and correctional psychology.

This course examines theoretical and applied criminal justice ethical standards as they relate to criminal justice decision-making. Students will evaluate issues concerning discretion, due process, truthfulness, corruption, and discrimination.

This course provides an international perspective on law enforcement. Students will focus on the phenomena of globalization of criminal activity, major aspects of the legal traditions and criminal justice systems of selected countries, as well as international legal and law enforcement institutions.

This course provides an overview of the principles and concepts of victimology, an analysis of patterns and trends, as well as theoretical reasoning and responses to criminal victimization. Students will examine the consequences suffered by victims as well as the services and resources available to them.

The Capstone: Evaluation & Program Analysis in Criminal Justice course focuses on key concepts, methods, and issues in criminal justice program evaluation and performance measurement research. Program evaluation and performance measurement research methods are evaluated to determine their efficacy and applications. Finally, students will develop a program evaluation proposal on an existing public sector, nonprofit, or private criminal justice program.