Criminal Justice, BS/Criminal Justice, MS

Program Coordinator: Michele Stacey (243 Rivers Building; 252-328-5559; staceym@ecu.edu)

The Criminal Justice, BS /Criminal Justice, MS accelerated program is initiated while undergraduates are completing the bachelor of science (BS) degree and is intended for outstanding undergraduates. Eligible students accepted into the program may double-count up to 12 semester hours of approved graduate coursework toward completion of both degrees.

Criminal justice undergraduate students may apply to the program after completion of a minimum of 75 undergraduate semester hours and can begin taking graduate courses after completion of a minimum of 90 undergraduate semester hours. The minimum GPA at the time of admission and entry into the program is a 3.5 in criminal justice courses and a 3.0 overall with a B or better in JUST 2004 , JUST 3800 , and JUST 3900 . Students are formally admitted to the master of science (MS) degree after all requirements for the undergraduate degree are completed.

Students accepted into the accelerated program must earn a grade of B or above in all graduate coursework to continue in the accelerated program. No graduate course in which a grade of “C” is earned may count toward the graduate degree. It may, however, count toward the undergraduate degree. Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA to remain eligible for participation in the accelerated program.

Students accepted into the accelerated program will have the option to waive JUST 4990 - Field Education and Seminar requirement (9 s.h.) and replace it with two graduate courses (6 s.h.) from the lists below and an undergraduate course (3 s.h.).

Students in the accelerated program who have a cumulative GPA less than 3.0 at the time of undergraduate graduation will be placed on academic probation in their first semester in the master’s program and will be subject to dismissal from the program if they do not achieve a graduate level GPA of 3.0 in courses related to their program of study after 9 semester hours of graduate credit attempted.

Undergraduate students accepted into the Criminal Justice, BS /Criminal Justice, MS accelerated program may count up to 12 s.h. from the following courses:

JUST 6012 - Seminar in Law Enforcement (for JUST 3112 )
JUST 6300 - Principles of Criminal Justice Administration and Management (for JUST 4300 )
JUST 6400 - Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice (for JUST 3200 )
JUST 6500 - Seminar in Criminal Justice Courts (for JUST 3503 )
JUST 6605 - Hate Crime (for JUST 4605 )
JUST 6610 - Victimology (for JUST 3400 )
JUST 6620 - Transnational Crime (for JUST 4620 )
JUST 6625 - Ethics in Criminal Justice (for JUST 4450 )

Graduate elective courses (for JUST 3000- or 4000-level electives):

JUST 5000 - Comparative Criminal Justice
JUST 6000 - Criminal Justice Principles
JUST 6001 - Research Methods and Statistical Interpretation
JUST 6002 - Seminar in Criminal Justice Education
JUST 6006 - Seminar in Corrections
JUST 6201 - Seminar in Criminal Behavior
JUST 6501 - Civil Liability in Criminal Justice
JUST 6502 - Criminal Justice and Terrorism
JUST 6615 - Criminal Justice and Society

Admission Process

Students interested in the accelerated program should speak with the graduate program director to determine admissibility into the program. Following this discussion, the student and graduate program director should follow the procedures outlined in the Admission and Readmission section of the graduate catalog.