phd criminology massachusetts

PhD Criminology & Justice Policy

A research-oriented and practice-oriented doctoral program..

The doctoral program in Criminology and Justice Policy is student-centered with the goal of preparing students for academic careers as well as careers in research and policy development. Students of this full-time, fully-funded Ph.D. program complete the degree in five years on average. Through our curriculum, students learn the process of research from the ground-up. Our courses teach students to construct viable research questions through qualitative and quantitative analysis, write scholarly research articles, and create technical reports appropriate for policy consumption.

Additionally, Ph.D. students are offered several benefits throughout their studies, including:

• Possibilities for generous, full-year funding packages
• Extensive summer research opportunities
• Flex fellowship: one semester off from graduate assistantship responsibilities
• Experiential and dissertation completion fellowships

Doctoral students secure prestigious positions after graduation, including tenure-track professorships at Tier 1 research universities, post-doctoral fellowships, and research-and-policy-relevant agency employment.

Recent career outcomes:

• Florida State University, Assistant Professor
• Massachusetts Appeals Court, Staff Attorney
• New York University, Postdoctoral Fellow
• University of Chicago, Postdoctoral Fellow
• University of Montana, Assistant Professor
• University of Nebraska Omaha, Assistant Professor
• Apply acquired foundational knowledge in the field of criminology and justice policy to answer questions in the realm of criminology and justice policy.
• Identify and describe the role of systemic racism and intersecting dimensions of oppression in the development of policies and practices across the criminal justice system, as well as in crime and justice theory and research.
• Critique the knowledge base in a specific domain within the field of criminology and justice policy to demonstrate advanced mastery of theoretical explanations for crime, its causes and consequences.
• Design and carry out original research using methodological tools acquired to develop new theoretical or empirical insights and expand the knowledge base in the field of criminology and justice policy.

For additional information, contact:

Kevin Drakulich

Phd program director.

617.373.7427 [email protected]

Type of Program

Helpful links.

• Admissions Requirements
• Course Catalog
• The Experiential PhD
• Meet Recent PhD Students

Degree Plans

• PhD Degree Plan

Get more information about this graduate program.

More programs, bs in criminal justice, bs/jd in law, criminology & criminal justice, ms in criminology & criminal justice, ms/jd law, criminology & criminal justice, phd/jd in law, criminology and justice policy.

Academic Catalog 2023-2024

Criminology and justice policy, phd.

The doctoral program in criminology and justice policy at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University seeks to prepare students for professional and research careers in criminal justice, criminology, and related fields by applying multidisciplinary and comparative social science to understand, predict, and explain crime and contribute to the development of public policy within urban communities. Using an active-learning approach, the school seeks to develop its students intellectually and ethically, while providing them with a keen appreciation for the complexities of crime and public and private efforts to make communities safer and to ensure justice. 

The program is full time and is small and student centered. Students may enter the program with either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree. It is expected that students will be able to complete the program in four to five years, and students entering with a master's degree will be able to complete the program in three to five years.

Year one in the doctoral program offers students an opportunity to obtain a broad foundational knowledge in the discipline: one semester on theories of criminal justice process, two semesters of criminological theory, two semesters of statistics, and one semester of advanced research methods. To ensure that all students have mastered the foundational material emphasized across the required courses for the PhD program and can successfully integrate theory, research, and policy, all PhD students take a “foundations” qualifying examination at the end of their first year in the doctoral program.  

After demonstrating mastery of the foundational knowledge in year one, students devote themselves to a more specific area of research in years two and three. Students demonstrate this commitment through the second and third qualifying examinations: an area exam and a publishable paper.

Following successful completion of the three qualifying examinations, and required and elective course work, the students proceed to a formal dissertation proposal defense.

Doctoral Degree Candidacy

A student achieves candidacy when they have successfully completed all course work (54 semester hours for students entering with a bachelor's degree or 42 semester hours for students entering with advanced standing), passed all three qualifying examinations, and deposited the final version of their dissertation proposal (approved by their full committee) with the school’s graduate program office. Candidacy is certified, in writing, by the college.

Bachelor's Degree Entrance

Complete all courses and requirements listed below unless otherwise indicated.

Annual review Three qualifying examinations—foundations exam, area exam, and publishable paper Dissertation committee Dissertation proposal PhD candidacy Dissertation defense

Core Requirements

Dissertation, program credit/gpa requirements.

54 total semester hours required Minimum 3.500 GPA required

Advanced Degree Entrance

Annual review Three qualifying examinations—foundations exam, area exam, and publishable paper Dissertation committee Dissertation proposal Candidacy achieved Dissertation defense

42 total semester hours required Minimum 3.500 GPA required

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2023-24 Undergraduate Day PDF

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