M.S., Criminal Justice Admin.

Director's Message

Thank you for your interest in the ASAP master’s degree in criminal justice administration.  This program is designed to provide a foundation of learning specific to today’s challenges for managers in all criminal justice fields.  Our professors and adjunct instructors are academically prepared and extensively experienced in a variety of career paths within criminal justice.  Their commitment to you, our students, enhances the learning experience and richness of our academic program. 

You will find our curriculum both challenging and stimulating and we are excited about your potential as a student in this program.

With regards,

David Boyer, Program Director
Assistant Professor of Criminology/Criminal Justice

Skills & Job Information

Skills achieved upon completion:

- An increased depth of knowledge in criminal justice issues
- Professional skills related to leadership and ethics
- Critical decision making and problem solving skills
- Effective written and verbal communication skills
- Reflective and analytical ability
- Refined application of theory into practice

Recent graduates represent a cross section of area employers and career fields including:

- Law enforcement
- Probation
- Juvenile services
- Secret Service
- Private security
- Corrections
- Private investigation
- Intelligence

Program Curriculum

The M.S. in Criminal Justice Administration curriculum consists of 11 courses and 34 credit hours. Classes meet one night each week for 4 hours. In addition to classroom hours, students are expected to invest approximately 2-3 hours outside of class for each classroom hour. For planning purposes, students will spend 4 hours each week in class, plus an additional 8-12 hours outside of class, completing readings, assignments, case studies and group work.

CRM 510 Leadership in Criminal Justice (3 credits)

This course will engage students in a critical examination of the changing nature of work and organizational conditions that create new challenges relating to the skills of public/non-profit leaders. In addition to skill development in the areas of goal setting, problem solving and communications, this course will include assessment of personal leadership style, decision making and capacity to act as an organizational change-agent. The ability to lead others through change will be a central theme of the course.

CRM 520 Ethics for Criminal Justice Professionals (3 credits)

This course will discuss how ethics impact decision making at all levels of criminal justice, from the “line worker” to the “program director.” Students will be exposed to several different approaches to what is ethics, including the works of Socrates, Kant, Bentham, Mills, Plato, and others. Several contemporary ethical issues affecting the criminal justice professional will be discussed.

CRM 580 Introduction to Action Research (2 credits)

This course offers an introduction to the rationale and procedures of action and evaluation research. Topics include the nature and purposes of research; the planning, conducting, critiquing and evaluating of research; and how research can be used to assist in organizational development and improvement.

CRM 530 Administrative Issues in Criminal Justice Organizations (3 credits)

This course will examine the many varied agencies that make up criminal justice in America. It will explore tensions between these agencies and examine administrative ways in which the tensions can be addressed and how agencies can work together to achieve each of their independent goals.

CRM 540 Decision Making for Criminal Justice Administrators (3 credits)

This course is designed to enable students to use various decision-making models and techniques to make more effective decisions. Students will be exposed to statistical analysis, preferential analysis, decision trees, and other decision-making models. Emphasis will be placed on group and team decision-making.

CRM 550 Human Resource Administration for Criminal Justice (3 credits)

This course covers human resource administration principles and skills useful for both supervisors and directors of public and non-profit agencies. The role of the human resource administrator, affirmative action, civil service procedures, employee rights, compensation and benefits and performance appraisals, and training of employees will be covered in this course.

CRM 581 Statistics for Action Research (2 credits)

This course will cover the tools needed for statistical analysis in the social sciences. Students will learn statistical designs to be used in the completion of the capstone course of CRM 600 (Action Research Project).

CRM 560 System-wide Issues in Criminal Justice Administration (3 credits)

This course will focus on current issues in the field of criminal justice. Current topics that may be covered in this course include the use of drug and domestic violence courts, community policing, and the role of civil incarceration of child molesters, etc. The course will follow the “best practices” approach and will focus on how research helps determine what works and what does not work in criminal justice administration.

CRM 570 Legal/Case Law Impacting Criminal Justice Administrators (3 credits)

This course covers legal issues affecting criminal justice organizations at the local, state and national level. It also deals with legal/case laws that impact how administrators handle the daily operations of their agencies.

CRM 590 Criminal Justice as Public Policy (3 credits)

The focus of this course is how crime can be seen as a “public problem” and “public policy issue.” This course will focus on the function of bureaucracies and how bureaucracies formulate and implement public policies that deal with crime and security for the public.

CRM 600 Action Research Project (6 credits)

This is the capstone course for the master’s program and integrates all of the previous courses into a student-developed, action/evaluation research project. Students will design, research, and conduct an action research project. Upon completion of the research project, each student will present his/her findings to the cohort class as well as to faculty members in the master’s degree in criminal justice administration program.

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