The MA in criminology, law and society brings cutting edge social science methods to the disciplines of criminology and law and society. The program is designed for students who seek to make a difference in the development and evaluation of policy in these fields. The MA program provides students with enhanced skills in analysis and policy evaluation for their further career development or to help them prepare for competitive, sought-after positions.
The program draws on a multidisciplinary departmental faculty for required core courses and electives. Students can also take a wide range of other electives from different university programs, including those in computational social science, conflict analysis and resolution, economics, government, law, philosophy, psychology, public administration, sociology, and statistics.
The program takes advantage of the university’s proximity to many justice organizations at the federal, state, and local levels in the capital region. The curriculum is structured to give students the skills to do policy-relevant research and work with justice and security agencies in the region to exercise those skills and serve the needs of those agencies.
Transfer Credits
Students may request to transfer a maximum of 12 credits for prior graduate course work (not applied to a previous degree) subject to approval by the graduate director and dean and in accordance with university policies.
Satisfactory Progress
Each new student is assigned a faculty advisor who helps develop a program of study. The advisor and faculty assess the progress of all students annually. Students who fail to make satisfactory progress may be terminated from the program. Satisfactory progress in the MA in criminology, law and society is defined as maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.00 with the minimum grade of B- in all courses. As in all graduate programs, students who receive a grade below B- will receive an academic warning the first time and a letter of dismissal the second time.
Degree Requirements (Catalog Year 2012-2013)
In addition to meeting the following requirements for this degree, students must meet the university requirements for all master's degrees.
Students intending to pursue a doctoral degree and academic or research career should complete the requirements for the MA in Criminology, Law and Society with thesis. For those students interested in careers in justice and security organizations a concentration in policy and practice is offered (see box above on right). This concentration does not require the completion of a thesis.
- Four core courses (12 credits) in three fields
- Justice and law: CRIM 700, 720
- Justice organizations, administration, and leadership: CRIM 740
- Crime and crime policy: CRIM 760
- Three courses (9 credits) of analytic methods: CRIM 780, 782, 783
- One to two elective courses (3 to 6 credits) Students choose electives from courses in one or more of the substantive fields of study listed below.
- Thesis (3 to 6 credits): CRIM 799
Students can apply a maximum of 6 credits of thesis to the degree. They need to submit a thesis proposal to the graduate director prior to registering for thesis credits. The master’s thesis must be defended orally before a committee of three faculty appointed by the graduate director. Students who do a 3-credit thesis will have 6 credits of electives. Students should be aware of the policies governing theses. They must follow the thesis enrollment policy of the university and once enrolled in CRIM 799, maintain continuous enrollment. These policies are specified in the Academic Policies chapter of the catalog.
Total: 30 Credits
Substantive Fields of Study
Master’s students are required to take their one to three electives within the substantive fields of study below. They may take one non-CRIM elective course. Students may use other courses as elective credit for a substantive field with prior written approval of the student’s advisor, director of the graduate program, and the sponsoring program.
Justice and Law
Justice-related electives: CRIM 702, 703, 795; GOVT 520, 725, 631; SOCI 619, 640, 711, 712; CONF 501, 701, 720, 721, 723, 726, 747, 802, 803; ECON 611, 852, 854
Law-related electives: CRIM 721, 722, 723, 730, 795; SOCI 503; PHIL 611; CONF 733; ECON 895 (when topic is law and economics); selected LAW courses (Successful completion of CRIM 720 and 721 is a prerequisite for enrollment in LAW courses, which also requires preapproval from the department coordinator, law school instructor, and associate dean for student academic affairs of the Law School.)
Justice Organizations, Administration, and Leadership
CRIM 509, 510, 691, 741, 742, 743, 749, 795; PUAD 502, 621, 622, 661, 671, 680, 700, 727, 781; CONF 731, 741, 743; PSYC 631, 639; SOCI 605, 623
Crime and Crime Policy
CRIM 761, 795; SOCI 607; GOVT 745; PUAD 644; PSYC 617
Requirements may be different for earlier catalog years. See the University Catalog archives.