Doctor of Philosophy in Justice Administration / Criminal Justice Program
The Department of Justice Administration / Criminal Justice offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Justice Administration/ Criminal Justice. The Ph.D. in Justice Administration / Criminal Justice is a degree that prepares graduates for careers in academic (e.g., teaching and research) as well as public sector (e.g., research, policy analysis and development, planning, program development and evaluation) organizations.
The program consists of a core curriculum and electives that students may use to develop their particular areas of specialization. The core provides a broad orientation and the electives enable students to develop expertise in a particular field. The curriculum includes 54 credits: 21 credits of core courses, 21 credits of specialization courses, and 12 credits of dissertation research. Students qualify for official candidacy to the Ph.D. by satisfactorily completing all course work and qualifying examinations in the core curriculum.
Both full and part-time study is permitted. Part-time students are required to meet residency requirements consisting of 4 continuous semesters of enrollment and participation in departmental activities offered to meet the need for scholarly integration and academic immersion in the program.
Admission
Entry to the program requires a master's degree or equivalent. Admissions requires a completed application form, transcripts of previous undergraduate and graduate study, Graduate Record Examination scores, at least three letters of recommendation, personal statement, writing sample and curriculum vita or resume. Additionally, applicants must show evidence, on their graduate transcript, of completion of both graduate-level statistics and methods courses. Minimum GRE scores of 1000 from the verbal and quantitative sections of the prior version of the exams or a score of 296 on the new version. Additionally a minimum graduate GPA of 3.25 is required. Those applicants whose native language is not English and who do not hold a degree from a university where the language of instruction is English must also submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language, with a minimum score of 80 on the internet-based test and a minimum of 500 on the quantitative portion of the GRE.
Application Deadline is February 15 for those seeking Graduate Assistantships and March 15, for those not seeking assistantships.
Assistantships
The Department of Justice Administration / Criminal Justice offers a limited number of Graduate Research Assistants positions (GRAs) which are awarded competitively and are intended to support full-time study. Students in the Ph.D. program may receive a maximum of three years of support as a GRA. The Ph.D. GRAs are provided a stipend of $18,000 over 12 months. This also provides for remission of tuition and health insurance. Application (pdf) submission deadline is February 15.Application in Word Format.
Core Courses
JA / CJ 603 Criminal Justice Planning (3 credits)
JA / CJ 640 Seminar in Crime Prevention and Social Control (3)
JA / CJ 645 Advanced Theories of Crime and Delinquency (3)
JA / CJ 648 Seminar in Criminal Justice Program Evaluation (3)
JA / CJ 651 Computer Applications in Criminal Justice (3)
JA / CJ 749 Advanced Statistical Analysis in Criminal Justice (3)
JA / CJ 750 Field Research (3)
Elective Courses (21 hours total, minimum of 15 from Department of Justice Administration / Criminal Justice courses)
Students must take any combination of the elective courses within the department. Students may also take a maximum of 6 credits from previously approved courses outside the department.
Justice Administration / Criminal Justice Electives
JA / CJ 602 History of Police in the United States
JA / CJ 605 Police in Our Political and Social Systems
JA / CJ 606 Personnel Management in the Criminal Justice System
JA / CJ 607 Law and Justice
JA / CJ 609 Economic Analysis of Crime
JA / CJ 610 Theoretical Foundations of Corrections
JA / CJ 611 Critical Issues in Corrections
JA / CJ 612 Criminal Justice Administration: Police
JA / CJ 613 Advanced Comparative Criminal Justice
JA / CJ 614 Seminar in Policing
JA / CJ 626 Emergency Management
JA / CJ 630 Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience
JA / CJ 644 Seminar in Juvenile Justice
JA / CJ 652 Constitutional Issues in Justice Administration
JA / CJ 665 Special Topics in Criminal Justice/Criminology
JA / CJ 670 Directed Studies/Readings
JA / CJ 690 Practicum
JA / CJ 798 Mentored Research
Proposed Electives from Other Graduate Programs at U of L
COMM 605 Communication Theory and Practice
ELFH 605 Leadership Training and Performance
ELFH 612 Human Resource Management
ELFH 661 Adult Development and Learning
ELFH 662 Organizational Analysis
ELFH 683 College Teaching
GEOG 631 Urban Demography
GEOG 656 Advanced Spatial Statistics
POLS 619 Seminar in Public Policy
POLS625 Public Administration and Organizational Theory
POLS628 Mediation and Dispute Resolution
POLS 649 Seminar in Comparative Politics
SOC 660 Seminar in Crime and Correction
UPA602 Urban Policy and Government
UPA 647 Public Budgeting & Finance
UPA 660 Advanced Organizational Behavior
Dissertation (12 credits are required)
JA / CJ 799 Dissertation Research (1-12 credits)
