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Masters in Criminal Justice

The Master of Science degree program in Criminal Justice is designed to build a student’s individual, agency, and community capacity to understand, prevent, intervene, and respond innovatively and effectively to juvenile delinquency and crime, using evidence-based practices and policies, in ways that ensure justice.

Our program is designed to provide students from around the world the following opportunities:

  • An innovative curriculum that provides theoretical knowledge and skills necessary to become effective leaders in criminal and/or juvenile justice systems. 
  • Emphasis on Juvenile Justices that ensures you will be prepared to serve as leaders of reform within our juvenile justice system and/or work collaboratively toward prevention, intervention and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders.
  • Skills to facilitate program development, implementation and assessment.
  • Engaged learning.
  • Collaboration with faculty and other stakeholders in the criminal and/or juvenile justice fields on academic and applied research projects in the community.
  • Intensive study that prepares you for a wide range of administrative, management and leadership positions within public, private and non-profit criminal and/or juvenile justice agencies.
  • Preparation for instructor level teaching positions.
  • Preparation for doctoral studies.

The M.S. in Criminal Justice provides both a thesis track (33 hours) and non-thesis track (36 hours).

In addition to the minimum admission expectations established by the Graduate School, the Criminal Justice program expects the following prerequisites:

Successful completion of an undergraduate research methods course within a social science discipline.  If not, you will be required to complete CJUS 301 during your first semester of graduate study.  This course will not count toward your graduate degree.

Apply today!

For application deadlines, application materials, and GRE score expectations, visit the Graduate School's application information page.

Start your graduate career! Apply today »

Additional Application Materials

In addition to the general Graduate School Application Materials, you must also submit:

  • Personal statement describing the reasons why you wish to pursue graduate study in criminal justice and/or juvenile justice (no more than 750 words)
  • Official GRE Scores (waived for UL graduates with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher)

Contact

Graduate Coordinator

Meng Ru (Lily) Shih, Ph.D.
Phone: 337-482-6540
Rougeou 340
Email: meng-ru.shih@louisiana.edu

Visit the Criminal Justice Website »