Offered by the Department of Justice, Law and Criminology , School of Public Affairs , the Justice, Law and Criminology (MS) is an interdisciplinary program focusing on the foundations and structure of institutions of justice and law. Students receive a thorough grounding in both empirical and theoretical approaches to public policy issues and take a concentration in either justice and public policy, law and society, or jurisprudence and social thought.
The concentration in justice and public policy provides a theoretical grounding in criminology and coursework in criminal justice, including corrections and policing. This concentration prepares students for a variety of practitioner and research positions in criminal justice, or for advanced graduate work in criminology or criminal justice.
The concentration in jurisprudence and social thought emphasizes philosophical and comparative perspectives on law, providing students with an appreciation of the nature and structural foundations of law and a firm grounding in analytical thought. This concentration serves students who have a background in either the liberal arts or law and are interested in combining the two.
The concentration in law and society provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the role of law in society, including the theoretical foundations of law, the relationship between law and the social sciences, and broad issues of social justice. This concentration prepares students for positions in policy research and analysis or for advanced graduate work in law and society.
