Graduate Studies - Criminology & Law
Degrees
Social Science Methodology Graduate Certificate Program
University Wide Courses - Electives*
Other Sections
The Ph.D. Program
The doctoral program consists of 90 semester hours of credit beyond the B.A. degree. Students with a Criminology, or closely related M.A. received within the last seven years from an accredited U.S. university may request up to 30 hours credit from their M.A. work toward this total. Those with an M.A. from this department may apply 36 hours. The department requires Ph.D. students to complete at least 66 hours of course work, including the M.A. hours. Qualifying exams in crime and justice, law and society, and methods take place at the end of a student's course work. The 24 hours remaining to complete the required 90 hours usually consist of individual pre-doctoral and doctoral dissertation research. In addition to the MA requirements, the Department of Criminology, Law and Society require additional CLS courses, nine elective courses and dissertation credits. Each Ph.D. student must indicate an area of specialization: either crime and justice or law and society.
Procedures for the Ph.D. Degree
The Supervisory Committee
The committee consists
of at least four members, all of whom must have graduate faculty
status. The CLS program requires that three members must be
from the CLS graduate faculty or approved departmental faculty
affiliates and the fourth member be an external member from
outside the department. While the program requires a total
of four members we strongly recommend a five-member committee.
The committee chair must be a CLS graduate faculty member with
tenure line or 50% appointment in the department and have expertise
in the substantive area in which the student plans to work.
Affiliate department members may serve as a committee co-chair
or member. The student should consult with the proposed supervisory
committee chair when determining the other members and obtain
their consent.
The outside member should have expertise related to the student's
research interests. If the student has an out-of-department
minor, the outside member must come from the minor department.
Criminology faculty affiliates can serve as outside members.
Students who are unable to determine likely outside members
should consult with the Graduate Coordinator or supervisory
committee chair. Because faculty members in professional schools
(e.g. Law) as well as some other faculty members are not members
of the graduate faculty, special permission from the Graduate
School is required for their inclusion on the supervisory committee,
and obtaining that permission requires compelling justification.
The student must submit a memo to the Graduate Coordinator
for consideration by the Graduate Committee. This memo should
list the proposed committee members and present a brief rationale
for each person's inclusion. Once the Graduate Committee approves
the proposed committee, it will be forwarded to the Graduate
School for approval. Later changes in the supervisory committee
require the same process of petition with a clearly- stated
rationale for a proposed change.
Plan of Study
The student should consult with the supervisory committee chair to develop a detailed plan of courses and timing for completion of the Ph.D. degree. The supervisory committee chair will transmit an approved copy of the plan to the Graduate Coordinator within one month of the supervisory committee's appointment.
Requirements
The following courses are required.
Ordinarily students with an M.A. from the University of Florida
will have already completed most of them:
- CCJ6001 Proseminar in Criminology & Law
- CCJ6920 Seminar in Criminology
- CCJ6039 Law and Society
- CCJ6705 Research Methods in Crime, Law, & Justice
- STA6126 Statistical Methods in Social Research I
In addition, PhD course requirements include:
- CCJ7742 Research Methods in Crime, Law, & Justice II
- Elective
course in student's track of choice:
CCJ6285 Criminal Justice Process (for C&J track)
CJL6090 Law and Social Science (for L&S track)
CCJ7921 Professional Development
METHXXX Doctoral Methods/Statistics (see the Methods/Statistics courses on the general list of approved out-of-department courses)
CCJ7979 Advanced Research - CCJ7980 Research for Doctoral Dissertation
Nine (9) elective semester hours from graduate courses available throughout the university and pertinent to student's interest.
With approval of the Graduate Committee, students entering the department from elsewhere may petition for a waiver if similar courses have been successfully completed.
Credit Hour Requirements
A minimum of 90 semester
hours taken after the B.A. is required, with the following
additional restrictions:
- Ordinarily, no more than 3 of the post-M.A. hours may
be in Individual Work courses. Students with an external
M.A. may take 6 hours at the University of Florida. Students
with an M.A. from this department may take 6 hours in their
total 90 hour program (3 hours in the M.A. program and
3 post-M.A. hours).
- No more than a combined total of 24 hours taken in courses
numbered 7979, Advanced Research, and 7980, Research for
Doctoral Dissertations, may be counted in the 90 required
hours.
- No more than nine semester hours of graduate sections
of primarily undergraduate courses (commonly called
"piggy-back" courses), including hours taken
in a Master's program, may apply toward the Ph.D. degree.
- Students transferring to the University of Florida with
a Master's degree in Criminology may petition to be credited
with a maximum of 30 semester hours taken in an M.A. Students
with a Criminology M.A. from the University of Florida
may count 36 hours from the M.A. program.
- Students entering the Ph.D. program with a Master's degree
in some other field may be required to complete an M.A.
in Criminology or to complete additional graduate- or undergraduate-level
courses. The Graduate Committee has responsibility for
determining these requirements.
Waivers
Students may petition the Graduate Committee to waive departmental rules. Such petitions should include full justification and must have the approval of the student's supervisory committee if it has been formed. Petitions should be delivered to the Graduate Coordinator for submission to the Graduate Committee.
Courses in Other Departments
Work in CLS must be in courses numbered 5000 and above. Nine hours of courses numbered 5000 or above may be taken outside CLS provided they are part of an approved plan of study (or are approved in writing by the Graduate Coordinator and supervisory committee chair).
Areas of Specialization
Students choose either the crime and justice track or the law and society track. One elective course at the doctoral level is required. Students interested in a secondary specialization to enhance their criminology and law training should consult the Graduate Coordinator and supervisory committee chair.
Teaching and Research Experience
Some teaching experience as a graduate teaching assistant and research experience working on a faculty member's research are very useful in enhancing the student's skills and employment prospects. It is highly recommended that students seek out at least a semester of each type of experience, even on an unpaid basis. Students should consult with their supervisory committee or the Graduate Coordinator to discuss ways of obtaining this experience.
Written Comprehensive Exams
At the end of course work, comprehensive exams are required. These exams should normally occur no later than the 5th semester following Ph.D. program admission. All students are required to take two comprehensive examinations. The exams can be taken during the same semester or in successive semesters but the written qualifying exam process must be successfully completed within one academic year (within three examination events). Waivers of this rule will be considered only in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to meet the timing requirements may be judged as failure to make adequate progress in the program and may affect funding status and/or ability to continue as a student in the program. One exam is a tool exam in methods, statistics and theory. This exam will require the student to demonstrate proficiency in the application of methodological/statistical techniques and theories relevant to the study of criminology, law and society. The other exam is an area exam in the students chosen area of specialization. Depending on the area of specialization, students will be required to possess a mastery of knowledge within either the (1) Crime and Justice or (2) Law and Society area. Both exams are administered and graded by appointed committees comprising CLS graduate faculty members.
- Appointed Examination Committees: The qualifying exam committees will consist of three CLS graduate faculty members with one alternate member all of whom are appointed for a two-year term by the area faculty or Division Chair. Of the three-member committee, one faculty member will serve as chair and the other two persons as members.
- Format, Timing and Structure of Exams: The exams are take-home and occur over a 24 hour period (e.g., from Thursday at 10 am to Friday at 10 am). Exams and answers may be picked up and delivered in person (both hard copy and electronic copy) or emailed, but there must be proactive confirmation of delivery of the test by the student at the beginning of the testing period as well as receipt of the exam answers by the faculty member responsible for receiving the exams at the end of the testing period. If the student does not receive specific confirmation that the answers were received, it is the responsibility of the student to immediately confirm delivery. There will be three examination events per academic year. The first offering will be in August and/or early September. The second will be in January and/or early February, and the third will be in March and/or April. Exact dates will be announced at least a month in advance. The exams will be given in two consecutive weeks. The first week will include a timed 24-hour period allotted for administration of the tool exam, and the second week will include a timed 24-hour period allotted for administration of the area exams. Students may choose to take one or both exams during a particular examination event. The tool exam will consist of four questions--two required questions (one in theory and the other in methods and statistics) and two questions that the student can choose from a list. On the area exam the student must answer three questions from a list of questions (some may be required).
- Grading and
Oral Hearing on Comprehensive Exams: The student will be notified
of the outcome within three weeks of each exam completion by the
exam committee chair. Each appointed committee member submits a "pass," or "fail" written grade
for each exam question along with comments to the committee chair
who compiles the grades and comments to be provided to the students’ supervisory
committee chair. In addition, each grader submits an indication of
whether or not an oral exam should be required to address concerns
about the strength of the student’s answers on that particular
exam. A majority of graders must issue a pass on each question for
a student to pass the exam The are four grading results for the written
comprehensive exams:
- Pass: The student passes all questions and the grading committee considers the answers to be strong. The student earns a passing grade on the exam and can continue to study for the next exam (if not already completed) or write the dissertation proposal.
- Conditional Pass with Remediation: The student fails only one question (the majority of graders fails a student on one question). The student receives a conditional pass on the exam and will be given an opportunity for remediation. The remediation will consist of writing a seminar-style paper that address areas of weakness identified from the failing answer; the paper’s topic will be assigned by the comprehensive exam committee. The paper will be due no later than six weeks from the date that the exam results are delivered to the student and will be graded by the exam committee members within two weeks of its receipt. If the student fails this remediation, the student will fail the overall exam and will have only one other opportunity to retake the overall exam. If the student passes the remediation, and the committee has not indicated that an oral exam is necessary, then the student passes the exam.
- Conditional Pass with Oral Hearing: The student writes acceptable answers but the exam committee requires an oral examination. If the student writes answers that the grading committee considers to be weak or borderline, the grading committee may require an oral examination on the comprehensive exam answers to allow the student to elaborate on the answers given on the written exam. In order to pass the exam, the student will need to successfully complete the oral hearing conducted by the exam grading committee. If the oral hearing is not successful, the student will fail the exam and will have only one other opportunity to take the exam. The hearing will be scheduled within 30 days from the date that the exam results are delivered to the student. The grading committee and the student’s supervisory committee chair will conduct the exam, although other faculty members are welcome to attend.
- Fail: The student fails more than one question (the majority of graders fails a student on more than one question on the written exam or the student fails the oral hearing), the student fails the exam and must retake it. To allow for additional preparation, re-examination will occur the next time that the exam is officially offered by the department (see above).
- Only one re-examination is permitted. Each student should be notified of the results through email. The supervisory committee chair, graduate coordinator, and graduate secretary must also be notified. In addition, a record of the results of each comprehensive exam should be placed in the student’s file by the comprehensive exam committee chair.
Dissertation Proposal Qualifying Exam and Admission to Candidacy
After completion of the written comprehensive exams, students are required to write a dissertation proposal and successfully defend it at an oral hearing conducted by the Ph.D. supervisory committee. This defense will serve as the qualifying examination for advancement to candidacy. If the student successfully defends the proposal, he/she will advance to candidacy. The supervisory committee will complete the graduate school’s required candidacy form, which authorizes enrollment in dissertation research, CCJ7980 (and bars further enrollment in CCJ7979). The Admission to Candidacy form requires the listing of a dissertation title. Later changes in the title are possible (though it is important that the final dissertation have the same title as the original Admission to Candidacy or amended title reported to the Graduate School). Ordinarily, the dissertation proposal will be defended by the end of the 7th semester after Ph.D. program entry.
The proposal shall be of the length and organization as determined by the supervisory committee, and should be sufficient to communicate satisfactorily an understanding of the literature and background of the theoretical and empirical issues and present a feasible and appropriate methodology for the project. A copy of the proposal must be made available for faculty inspection. Notice of the proposal hearing must be given to the Graduate Coordinator and department faculty at least 10 working days prior to the date of the hearing. Dissertation hearings are not ordinarily scheduled during the summer. All members of the faculty are invited to attend the proposal hearing.
Time Lapse: Between the oral portion of the qualifying examination on the dissertation proposal and the date of the degree there must be a minimum of two semesters. The semester in which the qualifying examination is passed is counted, provided that the examination occurs before the midpoint of the term [Graduate School, Rules and Requirements]. (Approved by Criminology, Law and Society Faculty March 2010).
Suggestions for Dissertation Research
- Students who remain in residence at the University of Florida while researching and writing their dissertations are likely to finish more quickly and will find consultation with the supervisory committee much easier.
- A dissertation must be completed within five years of qualifying exam completion. Students taking longer must be readmitted and may be required to repeat the qualifying exams.
- When writing the dissertation, pay special attention to Graduate School formatting rules.
- It is entirely ethical for a student to engage a paid editor to advise on matters of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This can be helpful, particularly for students for whom English is not the first language.
- During the student's planned final semester, it is
essential to obtain and study closely the Graduate School
leaflet showing deadline dates. Incompletes or other
defects should be cured before the start of the final
semester.
The Final Examination
The final examination is an oral defense of the dissertation; general matters pertaining to the student's specialization may also be covered. The exam may not be scheduled before a completed draft of the dissertation has been distributed to the supervisory committee and the committee chair has read it and determined that it is ready for oral defense. The distributed copy must be a complete dissertation (excepting the acknowledgments, abstract, and biographical sketch). A copy must be delivered to the department office for faculty inspection. Notice of the exam must be given to the Graduate Coordinator and department faculty at least 10 working days prior to the final exam date. Final examinations are ordinarily not scheduled during the summer. All faculty members are invited to attend and participate in the final examination, but only members of the supervisory committee may vote. A copy of the final dissertation must be delivered to the department office for inclusion in the department dissertation library. All supervisory committee members must attend.
Satisfactory Progress
It is important for graduate students to maintain satisfactory progress while in the CLS program. Progress is considered satisfactory if the student has:
- no more than two incompletes for longer than one semester;
- a supervisory committee at the end of the term in which s/he had accumulated 12 credit hours or by the end of the second semester in the graduate program;
- a grade point average of 3.0 or higher;
- a plan of study by the end of the first academic year, updated annually thereafter; and
- met all graduate school requirements.
While satisfactory progress is not a guarantee for funding, unsatisfactory progress
may be grounds for termination from the program and/or removal of funding.
