GW’s Master of Arts in Criminology program has a strong emphasis on research methods, incorporates required and elective courses from the GW Department of Forensic Sciences and underscores the way crime and criminal justice need to be understood in social context. The program is housed in the Sociology Department and therefore draws on criminology’s roots in sociology. Racism and police abuse of force are as much the subject matter of our program as are classes in punishment, criminal law and traditional criminological theories of crime.
Through research and coursework, students develop an understanding of how societies define, facilitate or reduce crime and the social conditions that contribute to crime and its control.
We offer financial aid to select academically competitive students and/or salary-only graduate teaching assistantships to many of our students.