Criminal Justice and Community Corrections (M.S.)

The field of criminal justice and corrections is changing quickly.  Those changes are the result of many factors, including the high costs of maintaining prisons, changes in sentencing laws, bail reform, and public sentiment for community-based programs.  These changes have resulted in a shift to shorter prison sentences and alternatives to incarceration, and increased demand for leaders in community corrections.

The master’s degree in Criminal Justice & Community Corrections prepares students for significant changes in the field.

Online Format
The master’s degree in Criminal Justice and Community Corrections is completely online. Students
watch lectures, contribute to online discussions, and complete other assignments on their own schedule while following course requirements and deadlines.  Students complete the program in two years by taking two online courses in the fall, spring, and summer semesters.

Cohort-Based
While students complete assignments on their own schedule, they move through the program with the
same classmates. All students who begin the program together take the same courses at the same time, contribute to discussion forums with students they know, develop opportunities to study and support each other, work on group projects where relationships already exist, and network with others in their cohort. There is an optional, two-day residency at the beginning of the academic year.

Program Design
This 36-credit master’s degree includes courses in institutional corrections and offender rehabilitation,
offender reentry and reintegration, community corrections, restorative justice, abnormal psychology,
addiction, and more. Students design a culminating project with a faculty member or complete an
externship in consultation with their academic advisor.

Evidence-based practice and research are used throughout the curriculum to prepare students to
identify what works in community corrections.