• Student and faculty walking in front of the UAlbany downtown campus. Student and faculty walking in front of the UAlbany downtown campus.

    School of Criminal Justice

    Study the social, political, economic and cultural forces that influence definitions of crime, individual offending and crime rates, policy choices about how society responds to crime, and all aspects of the criminal justice system.

About Us
Programs
Faculty & Staff
Research
Student & Faculty Resources
Explore Rockefeller College at UAlbany to study all aspects of crime and societal reactions to crime.

Evidence-based judgments and prudent policy choices about crime and justice require an understanding of crime, criminal behavior, criminal justice processes, and the law. The study of criminal justice at the University at Albany addresses these phenomena.

The internationally renowned UAlbany School of Criminal Justice is home to the 5th ranked PhD program in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. We were the first program in the nation to offer a PhD in Criminal Justice, virtually inventing the discipline when a star-studded group of faculty embarked a wholly new endeavor, bringing together scholars from law, public administration, psychology, sociology, and related fields to create a program that looked beyond the offender to explore the nature of crime and the entire criminal justice system.

Since its inception, the School has remained interdisciplinary in its approach. Our graduates have been highly successful as academics and as practitioners. Graduates find opportunities in the expanding academic field of criminal justice research and teaching, all the operating agencies of criminal justice, and in the many private and non-profit organizations that provide services or make policy recommendations.

Research

The School of Criminal Justice administers externally funded research through the renowned Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center. Funding for projects in the Center in recent years came from myriad sources, including federal agencies like the National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Health, and New York State agencies like the Division of Criminal Justice Services, Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, State Police, and Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Faculty, research staff, and students work on research projects, develop policy recommendations in the field of criminal justice, disseminate research results through publications in leading scholarly journals, sponsor lectures and other colloquia, and provide opportunities for graduate students to learn research skills and develop dissertation topics. Read about what students and faculty have been working on lately. 

Camela Hughes works with a student
SCJ Student Jaelyn Staiano working at the Cold Case Analysis Center
Recent News
UAlbany students celebrate the filming of The College Tour with host Alex Boylan and UAlbany mascot Damien, the Great Dane
UAlbany Featured in Season 15 of The College Tour Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video
The University at Albany is featured in season 15 of The College Tour, a groundbreaking series from Emmy-nominated producers Alex Boylan and Lisa Hennessy, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Assistant Professor Weilan Zhang holds up a crop used for research in his lab.
Dozens of UAlbany Researchers Among World’s Top 2% of Scientists
The annual Stanford University report, published through Elsevier, creates a public database of top-cited researchers.
John McCluskey stands with his granddaughter in front of a sign for the School of Criminal Justice.
5 Questions with School of Criminal Justice Senior Executive Director John McCluskey
There’s something about the University at Albany’s School of Criminal Justice that has kept John McCluskey coming back. McCluskey’s college education began at the school, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, followed by a master’s and PhD, and since earlier this year, he has served as the Senior Executive Director of the school.
Dewey Graduate Library
School of Criminal Justice students to bring research to the American Society of Criminology meeting
Their research represents a diverse range of topics, including how crime coverage shapes attitudes toward immigrants, the role that Stop-Question-and-Frisk policies played in gentrifying New York, and attrition from the police hiring process in the post-Floyd era, among others.
Pamela Hoxha (left) and Jaelyn Staiano (right) present about the Complex Case Mapping and Analysis Project
Cold Case Analysis Center project maps unsolved homicides and missing persons in New York
Camela Hughes was used to getting strange emails and phone calls. People claiming they’d solved cases that had long gone cold or expounding on their theories about corrupt police departments stalling cases. Last year, one such missive sparked an idea for Hughes, the director of the Cold Case Analysis Center (CCAC) and lecturer at the School of Criminal Justice.

View All News

Contact the School of Criminal Justice
Draper Hall, Room 219

135 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
United States

Email
[email protected]
Phone
518-442-5210
Fax
518-442-5212
Office Hours

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.