Criminal Justice

Opportunities for graduate studies

A Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of North Texas improves your ability to take informed and thoughtful actions as an administrator, researcher, police officer, probation officer or caseworker in the criminal justice system.

Our exceptional curriculum provides you with an understanding of the nature and scope of the problems posed by crime and the operation and administration of the criminal justice system. You’ll examine these areas from the theoretical, practical and empirical standpoints.We also offer a sequence of courses in criminalistics. Specialized electives are available, so you can tailor your degree to your professional and personal goals, such as pursuing a doctoral degree in this area or career advancement.

Our faculty members have a diverse range of educational and professional backgrounds, including criminal justice, law and urban studies. In addition to teaching courses, they assist the department in a variety of applied research projects and program evaluation studies as well as scholarly research. Some of their current research focuses on:

• capital punishment
• criminalistics
• homeland security
• juvenile delinquency
• police operations and tactics
• prison violence
• victimization
• white collar crime

Opportunities to participate in research or field internships as well as in research projects under the direction of a faculty mentor are available.

 

Admission requirements

You will need to meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse Graduate School as well as the Department of Criminal Justice. The department’s requirements include:

• a completed application on file with the graduate school
• GRE scores on file with the graduate school
• a personal statement
• transcripts on file with the graduate school

The personal statement should explain your career goals, your reason for pursuing a master’s degree, prior experience in the criminal justice field, prior research experience in criminal justice and anything in your personal background relevant to the admission decision. The statement should be sent to:

Eric J. Fritsch, Ph.D.
Graduate Advisor
University of North Texas
Department of Criminal Justice
1155 Union Circle #305130
Denton, Texas 76203-5017

These items must be filed by Aug. 1 for fall admission or Dec. 1 for spring admission. New students are not admitted for the summer semesters.

 

Degree requirements

Nonthesis option

• 12 semester hours of core curriculum
• 24 semester hours of electives
• pass a written comprehensive exam

Thesis option (requires departmental consent)

• 12 semester hours of core curriculum
• 15 semester hours of electives
• 3 semester hours of criminal justice statistics
• 6 semester hours of a thesis course
• pass an oral exam in conjunction with a thesis defense

Financial assistance

You can apply for financial aid awards from a wide variety of national, state, university and departmental resources. The department offers the Tory J. Caeti Graduate Scholarship, which helps cover expenses for one academic year. For more information on this scholarship, visit pacs.unt.edu/criminal-justice. Information about other financial assistance is available at graduateschool.unt.edu or www.unt.edu/finaid.