Criminal Justice
Mission Statement
To prepare our students to be competent, knowledgeable generalists in the criminal justice field while instilling values of social action, peace and justice, and inclusion.
The Master of Arts in Criminal Justice program will broaden and deepen its students’ understanding of the criminal justice system through advanced analysis and research combined with extensive experiential learning opportunities. Our goal is to train students to become thoughtful, caring, inclusive, and active professionals committed to fairness, human rights, and constitutional remedies. This program will sharpen research and critical thinking skills and develop advanced knowledge in criminal justice content areas.
The goals of this program include:
- Preparing students to be mature, competent, and effective scholars and/or working professionals in the criminal justice field.
- Developing in students an advanced understanding of criminal justice content areas such as criminal justice policy, law and society, criminal procedure, crime prevention, juvenile justice, policing, and corrections.
- Promoting and developing in students an understanding of multiple perspectives, conflicting values, and the role of advanced research-based knowledge and critical thinking in the criminal justice field.
- Preparing students for application to Ph.D. programs in criminal justice.
Before completion of the Master of Arts in Criminal Justice program, students will:
- Demonstrate an understanding of how to function effectively and with advanced competence in criminal justice occupations and organizations.
- Demonstrate the ability to apply critical thinking skills to sophisticated criminal justice readings, produce publication-quality academic writing, and deliver professional presentations.
- Demonstrate the ability to apply advanced theoretical frameworks to the criminal justice system and explain the multiple perspectives and value conflicts inherent in the history of the U.S. criminal justice system.
- Demonstrate the ability to analyze, formulate, and assess social policies.
- Demonstrate professional values and conduct such that the program faculty can recommend the student to employers, doctoral programs, and law schools.