Criminology & Justice Resources
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Zeta Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma
Alpha Phi Sigma [APS on Facebook] is the only nationally accredited criminal justice honor society for criminal justice students. The Zeta Beta chapter at Loyola University New Orleans recognizes academic excellence of undergraduate and graduate students majoring in or pursuing a minor in criminal justice. Membership is by invitation only, based on academic achievement as outlined below.
Alpha Phi Sigma was founded at Washington State University in 1942. The executive board of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) designated Alpha Phi Sigma as the official National Criminal Justice Honor Society of the discipline on March 24, 1976. Presently, Alpha Phi Sigma has over two hundred and eighty chapters in operation.
Since 1978, Alpha Phi Sigma has held its national conference in conjunction with the annual ACJS meeting. The Academy's continued support of Alpha Phi Sigma serves to enhance Alpha Phi Sigma's purpose - the recognition of scholarly achievement in the field of criminal justice. Alpha Phi Sigma was granted membership by the Association of College Honor Societies in 1980.
Zeta Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma was founded at Loyola University New Orleans in 2003.
- Undergraduate membership is by invitation and requires that the candidate has completed the equivalent of 3 full-time semesters of academic work (45 semester hours, with at least 12 hours in criminal justice coursework) with an overall 3.2 (using a 4.0 scale) grade point average (GPA) and a 3.2 GPA in the candidate's criminal justice coursework.
- Graduate students are invited to membership after 12 credit hours of graduate course work with a minimum of 3.4 GPA. Individuals who have made significant contributions to the practice of criminal justice are invited to join by a 2/3 affirmative vote of the active membership.
Required Courses
- CRIM A105 Intro to Criminal Justice Systems
- CRIM A110 Criminology Fundamentals
- CRIM A260 Statistics in Criminal Justice (Adjunct course)
- CRIM A300 Research Methods
- CRIM A425 Seminar in Major Works in Criminology
- CRIM A496 Capstone
- CRIM A497 Internship
Criminological Analysis
- CRIM A270 Murder, Mayhem, and the Media
- CRIM A275 Deviant Behavior
- CRIM A288 Crime and Disaster
- CRIM A320 Violent Offenders
- CRIM A335 Security and Crime Prevention
- CRIM A375 Organized Crime
- CRIM A378 Cybercrime, Technology, and Social Change
- CRIM A382 Gangs and Criminal Networks
- CRIM A385 Seminar in Advanced Criminology
- CRIM A420 Serial Murder: Myths and Realities
Law
- CRIM A218 Criminal Procedure
- CRIM A220 Recent Supreme Court Decisions
- CRIM A313 Criminal Evidence
- CRIM A345 Seminar in Constitutional Law
- CRIM A405 Criminal Law
- CRIM A430 Legal Research and Writing
Victimology/Victim Services
- CRIM A280 Domestic Violence
- CRIM A285 Crisis Intervention
- CRIM A340 Environmental Criminology
- CRIM A410 Women and Crime
- CRIM X330 Violence and Human Rights
Administration of Justice
- CRIM A101 Introduction to Law Enforcement
- CRIM A120 Introduction to Homeland Security
- CRIM A225 Juvenile Justice Process
- CRIM A250 Juvenile Delinquency
- CRIM A365 Program Planning and Evaluation
- CRIM A380 Ethics and Politics in Criminal Justice
- CRIM A401 Seminar in International Risk Analysis
Corrections
- CRIM A330 Correctional Institutions
- CRIM A350 Offenders With Mental Illness
- CRIM A331 Probation and Parole
Policing and Police Leadership (Non-required bucket)
- CRIM A205 Police Supervision
- CRIM A210 Police Administration
- CRIM A213 Police Community Relations
- CRIM A310 Community Policing
- CRIM A315 Probable Cause
- CRIM A355 Police Behavior
Forensics (Non-required bucket)
- FRSC C100 Introduction to Forensic Science
- FRSC C200 Criminalistics I: Crime Scene
- FRSC C201 Criminalistics II: Crime Lab
- FRSC C301 Criminalistics III: Controlled Substances
- FRSC C370 Forensic Psychology
- FRSC C380 Forensic Pathology
- FRSC C498 Research in Forensics
The Department of Criminal Justice's undergraduate Criminal Justice degree programs help link students to both non-credit as well as credit bearing internship opportunities with organizations ranging from a variety of local, state, and federal criminal justice agencies (including most local law enforcement agencies in the region), the City of New Orleans Public Defender's Office, as well as not-for-profit agencies focusing on issues specific to the needs of currently or formerly incarcerated men and women (i.e. drug programs, job-training, education), agencies those advocating for the needs and rights of victims of crime. Many of these internships have been offered for over twenty-five years, and a large number of our graduates now work in these agencies.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Ronal Serpas at rserpas@loyno.edu or call 504-865-2665.
The Department of Criminology & Justice requires all of its graduate students studying for a Master of Criminology & Justice degree to complete a prospectus and complete a comprehensive examination to fulfill the requirements your degree.
The Prospectus
At the time of your Master of Criminal Justice Comprehensive Examination, we would like you to submit a two or three page prospectus about your project to include the following information:
- Name of the project;
- The format of the project – e.g., evaluation of a criminal justice policy, theoretical work;
- Description of the work;
- Statement of the relevancy of the work; and
- A rough working outline of the work.
Master's Research and Practicum
Your capstone course, CRJU-900, Master’s Research and Practicum, consists of directed research in criminal justice under the guidance of the coordinator of graduate studies or another member of the graduate faculty in Criminal Justice. The student must complete a Practicum Report demonstrating mastery of professional skills in one of the following:
- Write a 5,000- to 10,000-word research paper written in a research journal format based on quantitative data;
- Write a 5,000- to 10,000-word research paper written in a research journal format based on a comprehensive review of the literature; or,
- Write an evaluation of a criminal justice policy or program; or,
- Write an acceptable grant proposal following, for example, National Institute of Justice guidelines.
If you have any questions about the CRJU-900, Master’s Research and Practicum, please contact 504-865-3323.