Dear all, Can anyone tell me the difference between, say an MS in Criminal Justice, and an MS in Criminal Justice Administration? Most of the info I found are about differences between Criminology and Criminal Justice and while I thought CJ is more on the side of empirical social science and the connections between law and society whereas CJA is on the nuts and bolts management issues... a course by course comparison between the Southwest U MSCJ and the Columbia Southern MSCJA, both DETC, seems to say very little except for the course names, ... some input please? Links: Southwest U MSCJ - http://www.southwest.edu/degreeprogs/mscj.htm Columbia Southern U MSCJA - http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/distance_learning/College_degree/MCJ.html Thanks again. KK
Criminal Justice is often intended as a subfield of sociology while Criminal Justice Administration is a subfield of Public Administration. CJ would consider the "why" of criminal behavior and the implications of the variety of avenues proposed to reduce the social and individual impact of criminal behavior. It is generally an area of academic inquiry and you might expect some research component in the CJ MSc/MA. CJA would consider more the hands-on "how" of rehabilitating criminals and the techniques of managing institutional populations and the personnel of those institutions. You might expect a bit more business component to the CJA MSc. That said, many programs do not follow this pattern and some even call their "Law Enforcement Administration" (an entirely different animal) programs by the CJ or CJA titles. If you plan a career in the administration of criminal justice or in law enforcement management, then the CJA style is probably what you want. If you are deeply concerned about why criminals act the way they do and you wish to better understand (and maybe resolve) the social implications of criminal behavior, then the CJ academic style is probably what you want to find. Most important -- ignore the title of the degree for a moment and examine the degree content to be sure it is what you are looking for. There's no reason a university couldn't offer an MBA with a specialization in criminal justice administration for example. I'd bet there are MPA programs for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice management types. I know that there are MA (sociology) programs with concentrations in criminal justice and criminology. Forensic Science programs are most often found in the programs they are most directly related to. If that's the interest then look in anthropology (UTn), computer science (Western Carolina), accounting (alot of places), and chemistry departments among others... It seems to me that both of the programs you cited lean toward the CJA with a touch in academic study of criminology.
That's true. The GA Chief's Association/Columbus State University Command College is a MPA in Justice Administration.
