Where is Criminology?

Abstract

This article examines the institutional placement of graduate programs in criminology. Using Peterson’s Guide to Graduate Programs in the Humanities and Social Sciences for 2004, 1994, and 1984, a sampling frame of programs that had "criminology" in the department/program or degree title was constructed. Data show that criminology was most commonly located in combined criminal justice/criminology departments, not in departments of sociology. Between 1984 and 2004, there was an increase in the number of criminology programs. An examination of seven departments, for which detailed information was available, offers insight into the decisions that shaped the institutional placement of the program as well as what the program or degree would be called.