Program Overview

Introduction to the Ph.D. Program in Criminology and Criminal Justice

The department offers a Ph.D. degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, providing students with advanced theoretical and methodological training for research and academic careers in criminal justice.

Eligibility and Admission Criteria

Undergraduate applicants must have a baccalaureate degree or expect one by the end of the academic year in which they apply. Applicants must have a grade point average of 3.0 or greater (on a scale of A = 4.0) for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work. Admission is competitive.

Application Requirements

To consider an applicant for admission, the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice must have:

• Transcripts
• Three letters of recommendations
• GRE scores
• A writing sample
  • Applicants with master's degrees should include a chapter of their thesis
• International students whose native language is not English are required to submit scores from the TOEFL examination

Program Requirements

Sixty post-baccalaureate hours of graduate work are required for the Ph.D. More than half of these hours must be completed in residence. Twelve credit hours of dissertation research (CRIMIN 7499) are required. Students may enroll for dissertation credits (CRIMIN 7499) only when all other degree requirements have been completed.

Required Courses

The following courses are required for the Ph.D.:

• CRIMIN 6400, Proseminar
• CRIMIN 6405, Methods
• CRIMIN 6410, Statistical Applications in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• CRIMIN 6420, Contemporary Criminological Theory
• CRIMIN 6440, Nature of Crime
• CRIMIN 6450, Criminal Justice Process and Policy
• CRIMIN 6465, Qualitative Research Design
• CRIMIN 6470, Quantitative Research Design
• CRIMIN 6471, Evaluating Criminal Justice Interventions
• CRIMIN 6480, Multivariate Statistics in Criminology

Elective Courses

Students are also required to complete at least 9 hours from the following courses:

• CRIMIN 5533, Philosophy of Law
• CRIMIN 5555, Ethical and Legal Issues in Criminal Justice
• CRIMIN 6431, The Nature of Punishment
• CRIMIN 6434, Human Rights
• CRIMIN 6435, Gender Crime and Criminal Justice
• CRIMIN 6441, Juvenile Delinquency
• CRIMIN 6442, Communities and Crime
• CRIMIN 6443, Violent Crime
• CRIMIN 6445, Property Crime
• CRIMIN 6446, Sex Crime
• CRIMIN 6447, Public Order Crime
• CRIMIN 6448, Victimization
• CRIMIN 6452, The Police
• CRIMIN 6454, Corrections Additional courses beyond the above requirements are taken as elective courses. These courses may be at the 5000 level. Students are also encouraged to take courses outside the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Comprehensive Examination

Graduate students in the Ph.D. program do not become recognized as Ph.D. candidates until they have passed the comprehensive examination. The goals of the comprehensive examination are to assess the student's familiarity with substantive literature, theory, and methods of criminology and criminal justice and to evaluate the student's intellectual imagination and ability to apply knowledge to broad criminological questions.

The Dissertation

The dissertation is required of all Ph.D. candidates and demonstrates the student's scholarly expertise. The dissertation process formally begins when all other requirements of the Ph.D. program have been met. The dissertation committee assists in selecting and developing the research problem and evaluates the student's work on that problem.