Program Overview

This master’s program considers all aspects of the criminal justice process and also allows students to build their knowledge in specialized topics like victimology, security management, psychology, incarceration, and juvenile law. The curriculum, which can be completed in one year, offers professionals the knowledge and skills to lead in policymaking, research, analysis, or law enforcement roles. Courses are taught by world-class faculty members who make discoveries at the forefront of the field and provide individualized mentorship. Whether students earn their degrees online, on campus, or in a combination of both, they benefit from becoming members of Northeastern’s global alumni network.

The MSCJ program features a range of options for customization, including a cybersecurity concentration, the ability to complete a graduate certificate in a related field, and experiential learning. The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice offers guidance and support for cooperative education (co-op) experiences, helping to find full-time placements in organizations such as law offices, federal agencies, political campaigns, police departments, and research centers. In addition, many graduate students make valuable contributions to our highly collaborative scholarly community by joining multigenerational research teams.

Cooperative Education Experiences

Cooperative education is one of the most distinctive aspects of earning a degree from Northeastern, leveraging the university’s many relationships in the public and private sector to offer unique experiential learning opportunities. U.S. News & World Report ranked Northeastern as the best in the country for programs that combine classroom learning with real-world experience. MSCJ students may choose to add a co-op to the required curriculum, extending the program by six months.

These experiences consist of full-time work in a field related to criminology and criminal justice, such as law, courts, corrections, human services, investigations, loss prevention, or social services. During this period, students must also take a two credit hour, online cooperative integration course, resulting in a total of 34 credit hours for the program.

Cybersecurity Concentration

MSCJ students may use their elective credits to complete the 12-credit hour Cybersecurity concentration. This curriculum introduces the multidisciplinary skills that criminal justice master’s students need to analyze security risks, prevent intrusions in information systems, and become leaders in a rapidly growing field.

Courses from the world-renowned Khoury College of Computer Sciences equip professionals with the technical grounding so they can address challenges like identity theft and data breaches with a holistic, ethical approach. By integrating concepts from criminal justice, criminology, and computer science, graduates can go on to pursue careers in setting digital information security policies, analyzing emerging threats, and strengthening law enforcement responses to cybercrime.