Ph.D. in Criminal Justice

Program Overview

The Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven prepares students for careers in academia, policy, and analysis. The program emphasizes faculty-student mentoring, researcher-practitioner partnerships, and a small, selective cohort. Students can choose from various specializations, including Investigative Science, Law and Public Policy, and Criminal Behavior. The program's location in the greater New Haven area offers educational, cultural, and economic opportunities.

Program Outline

Ph.D. in Criminal Justice - University of New Haven

Degree Overview:

The Ph.D. program in Criminal Justice at the University of New Haven is designed to

• provide students with outstanding learning opportunities through coursework, collaborative research, and teaching experience.
• Emphasize faculty-student mentoring and researcher-practitioner partnerships to prepare students for successful careers.
• prepare the next generation of criminal justice scholars who excel in the classroom, produce valuable research, and contribute to their discipline and communities.

Outline:

The program offers full- and part-time options with both traditional classroom-based and hybrid courses. The curriculum includes:

• Foundations of Scholarship: This seminar course develops academic research, writing, and presentation skills.
• Seminar in Criminal Justice: Analyzes contemporary issues in criminal justice, reviewing and assessing existing scholarship on crime and justice, while generating and critiquing ideas for research.
• Social and Structural Crime Models: Part of a package of courses focused on criminal behavior.
• Rational Crime Models: Surveys rational choice theories of crime from various perspectives, including deterrence, routine opportunities theory, incapacitation, and conflict approaches.
• Psychology of Crime: Investigates psychological explanations of criminal behavior, including psychoanalytic, trait, social learning, cognitive learning, biosocial, and developmental theories.
• Advanced Quantitative Applications in Criminal Justice: Introduces multivariate statistical techniques used in criminal justice research.
• Advanced Research Methods in Criminal Justice: Examines advanced research design and methodologies, including sampling, measurement, survey research, experimental and quasi-experimental design, secondary data analysis, and qualitative and mixed-methods approaches.
• Public Policy Analysis in Criminal Justice: Introduces public policy and program analysis in the criminal justice field, focusing on the impact of basic research on policy formulation and implementation.
Additional elective courses are offered on a rotating basis. Students can choose an area of specialization from:
• Investigative Science: Applies the natural sciences and scientific methods to criminal investigations and investigative processes.
• Law and Public Policy: Provides a deeper understanding of law and public policy within the context of the administration of justice in the United States.
• Criminal Behavior: Develops a deeper understanding of theories and research on criminal behavior, including multidisciplinary perspectives.
• Policing and Law Enforcement: Focuses on modern law enforcement and police practices, along with evaluating their effectiveness.
• Research Methods and Quantitative Analysis: Allows students to develop more extensive and sophisticated research and analytical skills used in the study of crime and justice.

Careers:

Graduates can expect to apply their skills and credentials in several jobs where doctoral degrees are valued, from academic teaching to policy and analysis.

Other:

• The program is designed to be small and selective, enabling individualized instruction and mentoring.
• Many students are former or current practitioners in criminal justice, adding to the program's vibrancy and close ties with policy and practice.
• The Ph.D. program is part of the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, one of the largest and most academically diverse colleges of Criminal Justice in the United States.
• The program's location in the greater New Haven area offers various educational, cultural, and economic opportunities.