Master of Arts in Justice Studies

Program Description

The MA in Justice Studies is a two-year, interdisciplinary graduate program and stresses the importance of a collaborative and problem-focused approach to justice. Recognizing the multi-problematic aspects of complex social issues, this Transdisciplinary approach is essential in understanding the complexity of a problem and in developing effective solutions often missed under more traditional approaches to justice.

A one-year Graduate Diploma in Justice Studies is also offered.

Delivery Model

Online learning

The majority of this program is experienced through online learning. Online courses enable you to meet the demands of work and family while studying. Using our web-based learning platform, you will access your reading materials, complete individual and group assignments, and engage with the rest of your classmates and instructors; online from anywhere. Each online course will be nine weeks in length, with a two-week break between courses.

Residency

During the course of your two-year program, you will attend two, two-week on-campus residencies. Here you’ll interact face-to-face with your instructors, cohort and team. You’ll have set class hours as well as homework and meetings outside of class hours, making this an intensive and rewarding time.

Completion Options

During the first year of study, all students will take the same set of courses. During the second year, students can select from the following options:

Thesis track

Students taking the thesis track will be required to take a second research course during their second residency.

Course-based track

Students taking the course-based track will be able to continue their studies online during the second year, choosing from a suite of electives designed to appeal to students in all three Humanitarian Studies graduate programs.

Course-based track with internship

Within the course-based track, students may choose to take a 6-credit internship. Students who choose an internship will gain field experience. This experiential learning will help students apply their theoretical knowledge by demonstrating their ability in a real-world setting and documenting their experiences.

Learning Outcomes

Royal Roads University works with an outcomes-based learning model. Learning outcomes are clear, plain language descriptors of knowledge and performance tasks that students demonstrate in order to successfully complete a program.

Within the MA in Justice Studies, there are five key learning outcome domains:

• Critical Thinking
• Communication
• Research
• Knowledge
• Professional Skills & Practice

Using learning outcomes helps to clarify a program’s focus, helps students connect their program to their workplace, provides a focus for assessment/evaluation, and helps employers understand the benefits of the program.

Who it’s for

Ideal for those seeking career advancement in a justice-related institution or agency, including government, policing, corrections, customs and immigration, DND and Coast Guard, for-profit/non-profit, and international organizations, and for students seeking to continue their post-secondary education in justice studies.

Applicants who do not have the formal academic education to qualify for admission may be assessed on the basis of both their formal education and their informal learning, in accordance with the Flexible Admission Process. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Courses

• HUMSIP: Internship Preparation and Career Management Skills
• ITAI: Introduction to Academic Integrity
• CPWB500: Foundations: Reframing Child Wellbeing in Complex Global Realities
• HUMS551: Foundations of Research
• JUST502: Foundations in Transdisciplinary Justice
• JUST503: Current Issues in Justice
• JUST504: Indignity and Justice
• JUST505: Case Studies in Transdisciplinary Justice
• JUST506: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Social Justice
• PJMN501: Managing Complex Projects
• HUMS611: Intercultural Competence
• HUMS630: Advanced Research Methods
• HUMS641: Foundations of Policy and Practice in Humanitarian Action
• HUMS642: Psychosocial Interventions: Managing Stress, Trauma, and Loss
• HUMS643: Ethnopolitical Conflicts in the Canadian Context
• HUMS644: Internship
• HUMS651: Case Studies in Humanitarian Action: Advanced Policy and Practice
• HUMS652: Adaptive Management for Complex Humanitarian Problems in the 21st Century
• HUMS653: Environmental and Resource-Based Conflict Management
• HUMS661: Risk and Crisis Communication
• HUMS662: Professional Practice in Conflict and Change Management
• HUMS671: Transdisciplinarity in Practice
• HUMS672: Public Images of Justice and Fairness
• HUMS673: Indigenous Perspectives on Humanitarianism
• HUMS674: Glade Report Writing
• HUMS691: Short Paper
• HUMS695: Thesis
• JUST601: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on International Justice
• JUST602: Advanced Policy Analysis in Justice Studies

Critical thinking

• Apply a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to the Transdisciplinary justice field of study and practice.
• Examine and situate one’s own personal beliefs.
• Demonstrate openness to ideas and actions.
• Evaluate evidence, its sources, meanings and intentions.
• Identify, select, and sort relevant information in order to be able to describe, draw inferences, synthesize and validate that information.
• Identify and explain the ethical dimensions of professional conduct and practice.
• Critically reflect on the impacts and consequences of decisions and resulting actions.

Communication

• Articulate ideas and arguments effectively in oral and written formats.
• Demonstrate competence in interpersonal and intercultural communication skills.
• Critically analyze the influence of new, emergent and collaborative technologies on Tran’s disciplinary fields of justice practice.
• Select and employ different communication mediums based on assessment of situation and context.

Research

• Illustrate the use and limitations of knowledge and theory in the field to Tran’s disciplinary justice professional practice.
• Identify and explain the core concepts and constructs of research.
• Contribute to knowledge in the field of study or practice using systematic and recognized research design and methods.
• Critically evaluate the rigour and validity of information and academic materials.
• Recognize gaps in professional knowledge and seek out information to address deficiencies.

Knowledge

• Examine historic and contemporary understanding of the construct of justice within and across disciplines, cultures and societies.
• Compare and apply Tran’s disciplinary range of theories to justice problems.
• Examine key factors (e.g. social, political, and economic) that impact an understanding and application of Tran’s disciplinary justice.
• Identify and assess the barriers and opportunities for applying theory to practice.
• Compare and critique strategies and frameworks for integrating Tran’s disciplinary justice into the analysis of practice.
• Analyze and evaluate justice contexts, norms and values.
• Articulate future directions for Tran’s disciplinary justice.

Professional Skills & Practices

• Advocate and promote the implementation of Tran’s disciplinary perspectives into justice practices and systems.
• Demonstrate advanced problem solving, facilitation, coordination and communication skills appropriate to complex and diverse justice environments.
• Illustrate the capacity to work sensitively and professionally across diversity in personalities, contexts and cultures.
• Engage in and build capacity for adaptive practices.
• Compare and appraise tools and approaches to program development, implementation and evaluation.
• Integrate regular self-care activities into practice.
• Develop, manage and contribute to group processes.