Masters in Criminal Justice Schools
Finding the right graduate school for a criminal justice degree may turn on your current job or family situation. Many people who enroll in a Master of Criminal Justice program are law enforcement or criminal justice professionals returning to school to upgrade their academic credentials. In the field of criminal justice today a bachelor’s degree can carry an entry level probation officer or police officer for many years, but at some point the desire to move up the career ladder is going to require a graduate degree. Our selection of schools has a variety of degree options among them, serving as examples of the programs available for returning students or those who have just graduated and are moving on to graduate school.
- University of Phoenix offers the Master of Science in Administration of Justice & Security both online and at many of the school’s campuses. The graduate program consists of eleven courses which can be completed in a year of full time study or stretched over two years if you are a working student or have family obligations. Cyber Crime and Information Security is one of the courses, blending some of the high tech security challenges with the more traditional criminal justice studies. There are also courses in Critical Incident Management and Management of Institutional Risk.
- Columbia Southern University has a Master of Criminal Justice Administration degree that requires 37 credit hours of course work. This school provides the graduate criminal justice program online as either a full time or part time course of study. For law enforcement professionals aspiring to management roles there are courses in Critical Analysis of Criminal Justice Public Policy, Constitutional Law for Criminal Justice and Public Budgeting. For professionals in the rehabilitative services there are courses in Juvenile Justice Administration and Training & Development in Criminal Justice.
- University of Colorado/Denver School of Public Affairs offers the Masters of Criminal Justice with concentrations in Domestic Violence, Homeland Security & Defense, and Emergency Management & Homeland Security. This last option is new for the University’s graduate program in criminal justice and fits a job description that many cities and states have been trying to fill since 9/11. The traditional emergency management executive at the regional and local level is trained to deal with fires, floods and earthquakes. Managing terrorist threats or acts is a new area of expertise that became vital when domestic terrorist activity became a reality.
- University of Maryland University College offers a Masters in Management with Criminal Justice specialization. This degree is designed for mid-career criminal justice professionals who need the management skills to provide oversight to a department, sworn police force or criminal justice agency. The school suggests taking courses in finance and statistics prior to enrolling. The core courses for the program are oriented to personnel management, budget administration and the use of accounting and statistics in administrative decision making. There are also dual degree options combining this MS in Management with either a MBA or a Master of Distant Education.
- Boston University Metropolitan College offers an online Master of Criminal Justice degree for working professionals. It consists of ten courses that can be completed over a two year period on a part time basis. One of the more advanced courses is in Forensic Behavior Analysis, a field that has grown to become the subject of entire degree programs at some universities. Other interesting topics contained in the curriculum include Victimology and for those who work in financial investigation, a course in White Collar Crime.
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