Master of Criminal Justice Course Descriptions
The Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) is a 30 credit hour program. This program is designed to be flexible both with regard to course delivery as well as completion time.
CRJU 700 Theories of Criminal Behavior – An intensive overview of the major etiological theories of crime as they relate to contemporary crime control and correctional models with special emphasis on criminal justice applications. Linkages between current paradigms of criminal behavior and current developments in criminal justice policy will be explored.
CRJU 705 Seminar in Criminal Justice - Any of several different courses can be offered including security administration, premises liability and crime prevention, corrections, international terrorism, and deviant behavior
CRJU 710 Research and Statistical Methods – The course examines research methods commonly used in the social and behavioral sciences, including survey, field and experimental research designs. Advanced inferential statistical procedures for data analysis are covered using SPSS. Computer application and data bases are employed.
CRJU 712 Graduate Statistics – This course examines descriptive, inferential and multivariate statistics employed in criminal justice research regarding the nature of crimes, criminals, and the criminal justice system. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, or SPSS, will be employed in the course to aid students in the calculation and interpretation of key statistical techniques commonly employed in the field.
CRJU 720 Seminar in Criminal Justice Administration II – Current topics in the management and administration of criminal justice systems. A case approach examining topics such as community policing, community policing as a part of community government, zero tolerance, race and ethnic conflict in the criminal justice system.
CRJU 800 Selected Problems in Criminal Justice – This course examines current topics and issues related to the field of Criminal Justice.
CRJU 805 Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation – The application of social science research methods to effective policy making and evaluation. Topics include conceptual, methodological, bureaucratic, political and organizational factors in the evaluation process as well as specific program evaluation research techniques.
CRJU 850 Seminar in Criminology – This seminar examines advanced subjects in the discipline of criminology including crime measurement and analysis, crime and victim typologies, white collar and organized crime, etc.
CRJU 893 – Directed Readings in Criminal Justice – This seminar allows students to study specialized works in the field by reading and analyzing both classical and contemporary works.
CRJU 900 Master’s Research
and Practicum – This Capstone course consists of directed research
in criminal justice under the guidance of the coordinator of graduate
studies or another member of the graduate faculty in Criminal Justice.
The student must complete a Practicum Report demonstrating mastery of
professional skills in one of the following:
- Write a 5,000- to 10,000-word research paper written in a research journal format based on quantitatively data;
- Write a 5,000- to 10,000-word research paper written in a research journal format based on a comprehensive review of the literature; or,
- Write an evaluation of a criminal justice policy or program; or,
- Write an acceptable grant proposal following, for example, National Institute of Justice guidelines; or,
- Develop a security assessment and plan for a corporation or a facility,
such as an airport or sports facility. This option is primarily for
those individuals coming from the private criminal justice sector.