Justice, Law and Criminology (PhD)
Applicants are considered and admitted for the fall semester only. January 1 is the deadline for application for admission. All applicants must submit scores from the verbal and quantitative sections of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The normal minimum for consideration is a grade point average of 3.20 (on a 4.00 scale) in all previous academic work. Applicants are admitted for full-time study only.
Degree Requirements
- Each student prepares a research proposal for the dissertation project. It is the responsibility of the student to secure the agreement of a School of Public Affairs full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member to serve as the chair of the dissertation committee. One of the two other members of the committee may be from outside SPA. As part of this process, each student must publicly defend the research proposal before the dissertation committee and other interested faculty
- The committee and the SPA graduate advisor (acting for the dean) must approve the defense and the research proposal. The topic covered by the proposal must be related to ongoing research or publications of the supervising faculty
- As work on the dissertation project progresses, students register for dissertation credit. Substantive graduate work may be used as part of this requirement where it contributes directly to the research specialization and is specifically recommended by the dissertation committee chair
- Upon completion of the research and the written dissertation, the candidate submits the manuscript to the dissertation committee for review. If the committee members approve the manuscript, the candidate must complete an oral defense of the dissertation and the general field in which it lies before the committee and other interested faculty. The committee determines conclusively at this point whether the dissertation and examination are acceptable
- The dissertation must consist of high quality original research directly relevant to the student’s doctoral program. A dissertation proposal may be rejected if the topic does not address a major research issue in justice, law and society, the research design is inadequate, the methodology is inappropriate, or because no full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the School of Public Affairs is academically competent or available to supervise the project. If the candidate fails to maintain satisfactory progress toward completion of the dissertation, his or her candidacy may be terminated
Course Requirements
First Field (12 credit hours)
Complete 12 credit hours from one of the following fields:
Justice
- JLC-710 Proseminar in Justice (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Justice selected in consultation with the department
Law and Society
- JLC-720 Proseminar in Law and Society (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Law and Society selected in consultation with the department
Terrorism and Political Violence
- JLC-730 Insurgency, Terrorism, and Conflict (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Terrorism and Political Violence selected in consultation with the department
Second Field (12 credit hours)
Complete 12 credit hours from one of the following fields if not used to fulfill First Field:
Justice
- JLC-710 Proseminar in Justice (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Justice selected in consultation with the department
Law and Society
- JLC-720 Proseminar in Law and Society (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Law and Society selected in consultation with the department
Political Methodology
Complete 12 credit hours from the following, with grades of B or better:
- GOVT-618 Bayesian Statistics (3)
- GOVT-715 Research Design (3)
- SPA-614 Conduct of Inquiry III (3)
- SPA-615 Conduct of Inquiry IV (3)
Public Policy
- PUAD-730 Proseminar in Public Policy (3)
- PUAD-732 Seminar in Policy Implementation (3)
- PUAD-770 Economics for Policy Analysis (3)
- PUAD-771 Public Finance and Human Capital (3)
Terrorism and Political Violence
- JLC-730 Insurgency, Terrorism, and Conflict (3)
- 9 credit hours of advanced coursework in Terrorism and Political Violence selected in consultation with the department
Approved Field
- 12 credit hours in another field approved by Justice, Law, and Criminology (PhD) Program Director
Research Design and Methodology (12 credit hours)
Complete 12 credit hours from the following, with grades of B or better:
- SPA-612 Conduct of Inquiry I (3)
- SPA-613 Conduct of Inquiry II (3)
- 6 credit hours of approved graduate-level research methods courses
Dissertation
- JLC-898 Doctoral Continuing Enrollment (1-9)
- JLC-899 Doctoral Dissertation (1-9)
