Guilford College

Master of Criminal Justice

Give Your Career a Boost with Guilford's Master of Criminal Justice

All sworn and non-sworn Criminal Justice workers receive a 10 percent discount on tuition.

The master’s in Criminal Justice focuses on connecting criminal justice theory to practice. You’ll analyze current practices in the field and offer critical reflection to enhance your ability to address problems as they occur in real-time.

The program will prepare you to make a more meaningful contribution to public safety and security and to the well-being of your community. It also:

• Provides graduate-level, in-depth study of criminal justice in preparation for a career or career enhancement
• Offers interdisciplinary perspectives relevant to the advanced study of criminal justice
• Offers a distinctive curriculum that’s theoretically grounded, empirically rigorous, and policy-oriented (I.e., it draws upon the evidence-based and problem-solving traditions of the field to address complex questions of crime causation, control, and prevention.)
• Emphasizes advanced critical thinking, written and verbal communication, and research into contemporary issues, such as police discretion, use of force, racial profiling, mandatory minimum sentencing, and the death penalty.

Distinctive Features

• Only Criminal Justice master’s program in the Triad
• Convenient evening classes
• Finish the program in three semesters.
• Faculty members have practical experience in law enforcement, courts, and corrections.
• All sworn and on-sworn criminal-justice workers receive a 10 percent discount on tuition.

Degree Requirements

To earn Guilford's Master of Criminal Justice, students must complete 10 courses (40 credit hours). There are six required courses that all students must take and four electives in such areas as police, courts and law, corrections, and crime and policy.

Accelerated B.S. to M.S. Program (Guilford College Students Only)

The accelerated B.S. to M.S. program allows Guilford students to begin their graduate work as undergraduates. In this model, full-time Guilford undergraduate students apply for the graduate program in their junior year. If accepted, they take one graduate course in the fall of their senior year and two graduate courses in the spring of their senior year. These graduate courses replace the two upper-level electives in the Criminal Justice major and the one lower-level elective in the Criminal Justice major.

Undergraduates who are not Criminal Justice majors may be accepted into the program, but the decision to allow graduate courses to count for major requirements is at the discretion of the department the student is majoring in. If a department does not allow graduate courses to count for major requirements, the graduate courses would count as general elective credits toward their undergraduate degree.