MS Practicum

The culminating experience of the MS in Criminal Justice program is its CRIM 517: Research Practicum course, where students create a resume-building research practicum project. In their final semester, students identify a justice organization or stakeholder group and conduct useful research on an issue of interest to that organization or group with the goal of translating research into practice. Students are responsible for identifying a topic and organization; collaboratively identifying an issue/research question that is relevant and useful to the organization; collecting and analyzing data; and presenting findings in a policy-oriented white paper and an oral presentation.

What do these projects look like?

Graduates of our program have worked with a variety of organizations and agencies, including federal and local law enforcement, victim support services, probation and parole agencies, courts, and more. They have analyzed administrative data to help identify crime problems and solutions, conducted reviews of existing research, reviewed program documentation and policies to assess how well they align with research evidence, and conducted interviews and focus groups with staff and clients to understand a variety of issues, such as the effectiveness of police training and the impact of COVID-19 on service provision. Many of our students already work in the field and have conducted projects with their own agencies. All research that involves interacting with and gathering information from living people is conducted in accordance with George Mason University Institutional Review Board’s procedures, and students receive training and certification in research ethics.