Criminal Justice
This is an archived copy of the 2020-21 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://bulletin.ndsu.edu.
Program Description
The Department of Criminal Justice offers graduate study leading to both a MS and a Ph.D. degree in Criminal Justice. The MS degree has two tracks; Applied Criminal Justice and Criminology. The program in Criminal Justice is designed to enhance student's skills in understanding, gathering, processing, and analyzing research in the areas of criminology and criminal justice. The program is geared to understanding, critiquing, and analyzing the causes of crime and the criminal justice system's responses to it. The curriculum consists of foundation courses in theory, policy, and research methods, plus three substantive areas: 1) criminology, 2) policing, and 3) corrections. Students have their choice of specializing in one of the three. Students also will be afforded course work in learning how to teach a college course.
Graduates will find an expanding and terrific academic job market available as well as professional employment in the criminal justice policy and research sector. There are currently fewer than 40 Criminal Justice Ph.D. programs operating on a national level, so students graduating with a Criminal Justice Ph.D. will be competitive for the 350 positions available annually in academic units.
Ph.D. in Criminal Justice
Students should enter the program with an approved master's degree. Students will be required to have had one course in research methods and one course in statistics. Plus, students should have adequate background preparation or demonstrated potential in the field of Criminology or Criminal Justice.
Students will be required to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and submit their undergraduate and graduate transcripts. For admission to full standing, students are required to attain a combined minimum score on the GRE of 1,000 (verbal and quantitative) (old scoring) or 300 (new scoring) and achieve a minimum grade point average of 3.0 over their last 60 credit hours. Students not meeting these standards will be evaluated and possibly admitted on conditional status.
A student entering the program with a master's degree would take a minimum of 60 credit hours. Students entering the program with a master's degree should submit their research thesis to the graduate committee for review. This committee would be charged with determining whether the research project is sufficient in scope and depth to warrant further supervised research.
MS Degree in Criminal Justice
Students will need to enter the program with a baccalaureate degree. Students will be required to have had one course in research methods, one course in statistics, and should document adequate background preparation or demonstrated potential in the field of Criminology or Criminal Justice. For admission to full-standing, students are required to achieve a minimum grade point average of 3.0 over their last 60 credit hours. Students will be required to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and submit all scores to the Graduate School.
Ph.D. in Criminal Justice
Students admitted to the doctoral program who have earned a master’s degree in criminal justice/criminology will be given credit for their master’s degree (up to 30 credits) and must take a minimum of 60 credits at NDSU. The amount of credit for the master’s degree will be determined by the graduate coordinator.
Students entering with a master's degree that is not related to criminal justice/criminology must have a total must complete 90 credits post-baccalaureate.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| Theory/Policy | 9 | |
| Advanced Criminology | ||
| Criminal Justice Policy | ||
| Introduction to College Teaching in the Humanities and Social Sciences | ||
| Research Skills (at least 9 of these credits must be completed at NDSU) | 15 | |
| Program Evaluation | ||
| Advanced Criminal Justice Methods | ||
| Advanced Research Design in Criminal Justice | ||
| Applied Statistics | ||
| Applied Regression and Analysis of Variance | ||
| Substantive Areas (Students must complete four courses in a substantive area of choice. Additionally, students must complete one course in each of their non-substantive areas. | 18 | |
| Criminology | ||
| Individual Theories of Crime | ||
| Structural Theories of Crime | ||
| Violence | ||
| Crime and the Life Course | ||
| Corrections | ||
| Juvenile Corrections | ||
| Issues in Institutional Corrections | ||
| Community Corrections | ||
| Correctional Rehabilitation | ||
| Punishment and Society | ||
| Policing | ||
| Police and Society | ||
| Administrative Policing | ||
| Police and Race Issues | ||
| Police Effectiveness | ||
| Classics in Policing | ||
| **Electives/Independent Study (Students should consult with their advisor as to other potentially appropriate electives. Below are example courses.) | 15 | |
| Gender and Justice | ||
| Individual Study | ||
| Experimental Methods | ||
| Experimental Social Psychology | ||
| Qualitative Methods | ||
| Applied Survey Sampling | ||
| Meta-Analysis Methods | ||
| CJ 899 | Doctoral Dissertation | 12 |
| Total Credits | 60-90 | |
| ** | 36 credits for for students entering the program with a master's degree that is not related to criminal justice/criminology |
MS Degree in Criminal Justice
Students will need to declare their choice of a Track by the end of their first semester in the program.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundation Courses (Required for both tracks.) | 18 | |
| Program Evaluation | ||
| Advanced Criminology | ||
| Criminal Justice Policy | ||
| Advanced Criminal Justice Methods | ||
| Advanced Research Design in Criminal Justice | ||
| Applied Statistics | ||
| Applied Track (in addition to the foundation courses students must complete one course from these areas. | 6 | |
| Corrections | ||
| Juvenile Corrections | ||
| Issues in Institutional Corrections | ||
| Community Corrections | ||
| Correctional Rehabilitation | ||
| Punishment and Society | ||
| Policing | ||
| Police and Society | ||
| Administrative Policing | ||
| Police and Race Issues | ||
| Police Effectiveness | ||
| Classics in Policing | ||
| Criminology Track (in addition to the foundation courses students must complete one course from the Theory area and Elective area | 6 | |
| Theory | ||
| Individual Theories of Crime | ||
| Structural Theories of Crime | ||
| Electives | ||
| Crime and Delinquency | ||
| Deviant Behavior | ||
| Crime and the Life Course | ||
| Gender and Justice | ||
| Violence | ||
| Thesis or Policy Paper/Indep. Studies | 6 | |
| Master's Thesis (or CJ 797 or CJ 793) | ||
| Total Credits | 30 | |
Carol Archbold, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska-Omaha, 2002
Research Interests: Policing, Race and Gender in the Criminal Justice System, Qualitative Research Methods
Jeffrey Bumgarner, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, 2000
Research Interests: Policing, Federal Law Enforcement, Federal Crime Policy, and Criminal Justice Administration
Andrew Myer, Ph.D.
University of Cincinnati, 2010
Research Interests: Effective Correctional Interventions, Evidence Based Program Evaluation, Actuarial Offender Risk Assessment Practices, and Macro-Social Research Methods
Amy J. Stichman, Ph.D.
University of Cincinnati, 2003
Research Interests: Corrections, Institutional Life, Inmate and Correctional Officer Attitudes, Treatment Program Evaluation, Gender Issues
Kevin M. Thompson, Ph.D.
University of Arizona, 1986
Research Interests: Delinquency, Quantitative Methods, Alcohol and Drugs, Juvenile Drug Courts