Welcome to our graduate program website!  We are very proud of our graduate program because of the ways in which we have seen our graduate students evolve from their first year to their last and then become productive scholars in their professional careers.  We have carefully constructed the Traditional Master’s and Doctoral programs so that students are exposed to many criminological perspectives, crime prevention approaches, in-depth analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal justice system, innovative strategies to address these weaknesses, and a wide range of research and statistical methodologies to address these various research issues.  

Graduates from our Traditional Master’s Program are well-equipped to work as researchers in government and private non-profit agencies, research institutes, or to continue their education in PhD programs.  Our PhD graduates most often become professors in other universities or researchers in public or private agencies or research institutes, but some have even started their own research consulting businesses.  Regardless of their career choices, our PhD graduates are prepared to contribute to theory development and to push knowledge beyond the current conventional wisdom so that policy and program decisions can be made based on scholarly evidence.  Our proximity to Washington, DC, and ongoing relationships to local criminal justice agencies encourage close relationships with federal criminal justice agencies.  Many of our students get involved in research projects sponsored by these agencies during their tenure at Maryland. 

In sum, through coursework, research, and teaching opportunities, our graduate students are well prepared for the research career of their choice.