Justice, Law, and Crime Policy, PhD

Reduction of Credit

Students entering the doctoral program with a master’s degree in a related discipline, including law degrees, may request that the required credits for the doctoral degree be reduced by a maximum of 24 credits with approval of the program director and dean and in accordance with university policy. Students who have prior graduate course work that has not been applied to another degree may request to have a maximum of 12 of these graduate credits transferred to their JLCP degree program, with approval of the program coordinator and dean and in accordance with university policy.

Satisfactory Progress

Each new student is assigned an advisor who helps develop a program of study. The program of study must be submitted by the end of the first year. On advancing to candidacy, the chair of the dissertation committee becomes the advisor. The advisor and JLCP faculty assess the progress of all students annually. Students who fail to make satisfactory progress may be terminated from the program or dismissed from the university. Satisfactory progress in the JLCP program is defined as maintaining a GPA of at least a 3.00 and all course work must result in grades of B- or above. An academic warning will be issued at the first grade below B-, and  dismissal will be initiated at the second grade below B-.

Application Requirements

See the Application for Graduate Study for admissions deadlines for the Spring and Fall semesters. Late applications will be considered on a space-available basis. Applicants admitted to the JLCP doctoral program without a graduate degree in a relevant area will be required to complete the JLCP master’s degree as an integral part of the doctorate. There is no required background or preferred experience, but students should demonstrate interest in and aptitude for graduate study in justice, law, and crime policy.

In addition to meeting all requirements for graduate study, applicants should submit three letters of recommendation from faculty members or individuals who have first-hand knowledge of the applicant’s academic or professional capabilities; a statement of purpose of study no longer than 500 words; official verbal, quantitative, and analytical GRE scores on tests taken within five years of application submission; and a writing sample of a recent sole-authored work of at least 2,500 words. An interview may be required.

Degree Requirements

In addition to satisfying the requirements for all doctoral degrees, students must successfully complete 72 credits of required course work, pass two qualifying exams, and form a dissertation committee, after which they are advanced to candidacy. The final requirements are the dissertation proposal defense and a dissertation of original research representing a significant contribution to the field, which should be publishable in a referred journal or a quality press.

Qualifying Exams

Students must pass written qualifying exams in two core substantive fields of the student’s choosing, selected from the three fields below. Students may take a single qualifying exam at each sitting. All three qualifying exams will be offered at each sitting.

Students are not eligible to take the qualifying exams until they have successfully completed the required course work, as well as course work in the substantive area in which they intend to sit for the qualifying exam. Students have one opportunity across both exam areas to retake a failed exam.

Advancement to Candidacy

To advance to candidacy, students must complete all course work required on their approved program of study. Students must also successfully complete and pass two qualifying exams. In addition, students must have a dissertation committee appointed by the Dean’s Office and have defended their dissertation proposal.

Continuous Registration

Once enrolled in 998, a student must maintain continuous registration in 998 or 999 each semester until the dissertation is submitted to and accepted by the University Library.

Dissertation Committee

The student’s committee is composed of at least three faculty members and a chair, at least two of whom must be full-time JLCP faculty and one, a member of the graduate faculty outside JLCP. The chair must be a full-time JLCP faculty member.