The Master of Arts in Criminal Justice and Criminology is available on the Pullman campus. The program is designed to develop and enhance the student’s knowledge of criminal justice; expand and develop a student’s analytical and assessment skills; and further develop their facility with oral and written communication and with research.

The program is flexible and provides a superb basis for entry into graduate work at the doctoral level or applied work in criminal justice agencies. Approximately 70% of our M.A. graduates are employed in applied settings while the balance have pursued teaching and research careers.

The Program offers two tracks toward the completion of the Master’s Program:

• Conventional track and;
• Master’s with a Certificate in Global Justice and Security.
  • Please note: the department is currently not accepting M.A. students into this certificate for the time being.

Each track has different course requirements that are provided here and in the Graduate Handbook. Both tracks are non-thesis tracks, not requiring the writing of a Master’s thesis.

Students should read the descriptions of the two tracks outlined below carefully. The decision which track a student wants to pursue can be decided once a student arrives on campus during discussion with the graduate advisor.

Conventional Track

The Conventional Track requires the completion of 26 hours (9 courses) of graded course credit. Six hours (two courses) of senior level undergraduate course work may be allowed to replace the required electives, with approval of the student’s Committee and the Graduate School, toward the completion of the 26 hours graded course work. In addition, students must complete at least 4 hours of Crm J 702 credits. Crm J 702 credits, which are evaluated as pass or fail only, represent efforts by students engaged in independent study and the preparation of the M.A. final non-thesis exam. This makes for a minimum of 30 credit hours total.

Master’s Degree with a Certificate in Global Justice and Security Track

This M.A. is designed as a cross-disciplinary degree combining Criminal Justice and Political Science courses which deal with the changing dynamics and configurations of security and crime patterns and issues across the world. Security threats and crime in the USA are increasingly affected by global developments and hence cannot be dealt with effectively by security and crime policies that focus solely on the USA.

This M.A. track requires a total of 32 semester hours, including seven core graded courses, two elective graded courses, and four hours of CRMJ 702. Students must successfully complete at least 32 hours of graded course work, 22 hours (7 courses) of which must be at the 500- level.

Six hours (two courses) of senior level undergraduate course work may be allowed, by approval of the student’s Committee and the Graduate School, toward the completion of the 28 hours of graded course work.

The Certificate Option is available only to students who have been admitted and have enrolled in our CRM J M.A. program. In order to receive the Certificate, students will have to successfully complete nine courses in the CRM J M.A. program.

To enroll in the Certificate Program, students in the CRM J M.A. program have to notify the Graduate Studies Committee in the Department that they wish to pursue the Certificate option. The Graduate Studies Committee will decide whether to accept the student into the Certificate program or not and will notify the student of its decision. Being denied admission to the Certificate option does not prevent the student from receiving an M.A. upon successful conclusion of the required courses for the conventional M.A. track.

In addition to the course requirements, students are required to complete an M.A. non-thesis final exam.

Teaching and Research Assistantships

While not required of master’s students, there are opportunities to assist with teaching and research. Many graduate students find these experiences very valuable, both in deepening their own scholarship and in providing useful professional experience.