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Masters Degree - Criminal Justice

A Masters Degree in Criminal Justice will advance you current career in law enforcement in many ways.  Earning this degree can mean a promotion to probation officer, director of corrections, detective, or other leadership positions in your current agency.  You can also move on to teaching positions in criminal justice or open your own consulting business or security firm.  A Masters Degree in Criminal Justice may also be used for those with a bachelor’s degree in an unrelated field to obtain entry level positions in the criminal justice system.
 
Higher level positions in criminal justice deal more with public policy, so they begin to overlap into other areas like social work, population studies, sociology, and politics - as well as law and criminology.  A criminal justice leadership position focuses more on managing and considering the larger picture, like understanding the populations serviced by the criminal justice system, what their needs are and how they are affected by it.  Leaders in criminal justice are responsible for delivering high quality and cost-effective services and must also understand issues that affect the population like domestic violence and substance abuse in order to be effective.  They must also understand the computer and information technology that the criminal justice system relies on in order to make it function properly.
 
Earning a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice will provide you with the opportunity to learn how to meet the need of the local community you serve with regard to the managing and administration of a local, regional, or national agency, as well as the private sector.  You will learn to apply theory and research to real-world problems in criminal justice in order to prepare yourself for a leadership position in criminal justice.  A graduate program in criminal justice will also focus on the research methods necessary to determine the true measurement of crime in your service area as well as the cause and impact of these crimes.  You will also learn about decision making by using computer technology when it comes to crime control, intervention, and current issues.
     
In a graduate criminal justice degree program, you will be required to take classes that deeply investigate the theories behind how crime develops in communities and how it can be managed.  Classes will include Criminological Theories, Computer Applications in Criminal Justice, Research Methods in Criminology, Applied Statistics in Criminology, Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Social Justice, Criminal Law, Procedures and Individual Rights, Prevention and Treatment Of Crime and Delinquency, Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Administration, Police and Society;  Science, Evidence and Law, Victimology , Forensic Science in Investigation, Criminal Justice Management and Planning, and Law and Public Policy.  Some other elective course like domestic violence, substance abuse, and child maltreatment, or other classes may be added if you wish to specialize in these areas.   You will also be required to complete a final thesis on an approved topic in order to graduate.

Career Opportunities in Criminal Justice Management
Advanced career opportunities in criminal justice management will give you the chance to improve a community or the lives of others through teaching, research, administration, and shaping public policy.  With a graduate degree in criminal justices, you can assume a director’s role in any department of the criminal justice system, become a probation officer or detective, go into teaching on the college level, or manage a security firm in the private sector.