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Ph.D. in Criminal Justice

Program Description | Admissions | Degree Requirements | Courses

Program Description

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice is designed to produce students of crime and justice who possess (1) a deep and extensive awareness of the body of knowledge in the field of criminal justice and (2) the intellectual and methodological skills necessary for the continuing process of discovery and understanding of crime and justice-related issues. The graduate should be capable of integrative and analytical thinking, competent at transmitting knowledge, able to engage in various accepted modes of research, and possess skills in problem-solving.

To accomplish this, the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology has a faculty of about 35 diverse scholars committed to the study of crime and justice issues. The curriculum includes courses that provide theoretical and applied knowledge of the phenomena of crime and criminal justice. In addition to the demonstration of excellence in the classroom, students are expected to engage in research in accordance with personal specialized interests beyond specified courses.

Through the combined efforts of faculty and students, the Doctor of Philosophy program in Criminal Justice produces students capable of making contributions to criminal justice through the academic and applied components of the discipline. The curriculum is designed to ensure that graduates are well equipped to participate in criminological positions emphasizing research and statistics, theory, and administration.

Admissions

Graduate Application
Application fee
A master’s degree in Criminal Justice or an allied field
Official test scores from the Graduate Record Examination
Official undergraduate and graduate transcripts for all academic work (Note: Grades must show evidence of the ability to do doctoral level work)
Three letters of recommendation, preferably from faculty who are sufficiently acquainted with the student to comment on potential for success in the doctoral program
Doctoral Follow-Up Application
A personal essay as described in the doctoral follow-up application
A current resume or vita
In some instances a personal interview may be requested
International students ONLY: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) unless they have completed a degree in the United States (Note: A minimum score of 550 (paper-based) or 213 [computer-based] is required)

A holistic review of each student’s application will be completed on a competitive basis. The deadline for submitting applications to the Doctor of Philosophy program in Criminal Justice is February 1 for the fall semester.

Degree Requirements

Students should consult with the criminal justice Graduate Admissions Coordinator to design a course of study that will provide in-depth knowledge in the areas of research and statistics, criminological theory, and criminal justice administration..

Students must register full-time, a minimum of 9 credit hours per semester, and must maintain a 3.0 grade point average in all courses.

Students must pass the doctoral qualifying examination in the form of a Research Assessment Portfolio. Students must also complete and defend a doctoral dissertation, which is the product of original scholarly research and is of such quality as to represent a meaningful contribution to knowledge in the field of criminal justice.

The Doctoral degree requires 58 hours of 7000-level coursework.