Tamara Madensen with students, Stacey Clouse and Logan Kennedy, by T-Mobile arena

Department of Criminal Justice News

The Department of Criminal Justice provides undergraduate and graduate degree programs designed to give students comprehensive understanding of the nature and causes of crime. Our students also learn about the criminal justice processes, criminal justice organizations and agency practices, and the law and legal system.

Current Criminal Justice News

portrait of man
Campus News |

Juan Rubio Pulido joins the first cohort of TheDream.US scholars to graduate from UNLV.

Students in red caps and gowns walk out of an arena in front of a red Rebels Make It Happen sign
People |

The class of 2023 offers inspiration for current Rebels on how to make the most of the journey from student to alumnus.

two students using laptops in classroom
Campus News |

The undergraduate course helps the next generation of decisionmakers analyze prison and parole systems function.

man in red shirt holding football with players in background
Athletics |

The former student-athlete has returned and is ready to tackle a new position as director of Football Player Development and Community Engagement for UNLV Athletics.

Graduation surprise
Campus News |

News stories from the summer featuring UNLV students and faculty.

A silhoutte of a student wearing a cap and gown with the tassel swaying as they walk
People |

The Class of 2023 shares how UNLV helped them find their paths to success.

Criminal Justice In The News

KLAS-TV: 8 News Now

The Ê×Ò³| Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ (UNLV) and Nevada State Police are working on a first-of-its-kind partnership focusing on the mental health of troopers. It’s all about managing stress to improve their personal and professional lives.

Police1

The UNLV Tourist Safety Institute launched an eight-week emergency responder resilience program in August, designed to help Nevada State Police Highway Patrol officers improve their social and emotional wellness. The training focuses on mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships to help officers manage the stresses of their profession.

Police1

The UNLV Tourist Safety Institute launched an eight-week emergency responder resilience program in August, designed to help Nevada State Police Highway Patrol officers improve their social and emotional wellness. The training focuses on mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships to help officers manage the stresses of their profession.

Newswise

A new program designed by the UNLV Tourist Safety Institute is helping Nevada Highway State Patrol employees focus on their social and emotional wellness. Law enforcement officers are learning skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships. The goal is to help them improve their health, operational performance, and abilities to manage challenging situations as first responders.

Newswise

A new program designed by the UNLV Tourist Safety Institute is helping Nevada Highway State Patrol employees focus on their social and emotional wellness. Law enforcement officers are learning skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships. The goal is to help them improve their health, operational performance, and abilities to manage challenging situations as first responders.

Newswise

A new program designed by the UNLV Tourist Safety Institute is helping Nevada Highway State Patrol employees focus on their social and emotional wellness. Law enforcement officers are learning skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, attention control, and maintaining effective interpersonal relationships. The goal is to help them improve their health, operational performance, and abilities to manage challenging situations as first responders.

Criminal Justice Experts

An expert in trauma, child abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking, domestic violence, and juvenile delinquency.
An expert in behavioral cybersecurity.
An expert in crime science, crime prevention, and crowd management
An expert on women and crime, social justice, intersectionality, re-entry, surveillance, violence, and victimization.
A criminologist with expert knowledge of police order-maintenance practices, police management, and community crime prevention.
An expert on jury decision making, intergroup conflict, and police use of social media and technology. 

Recent Criminal Justice Accomplishments

Alexa Bejinariu (Criminal Justice) was selected as a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University for the 2024-25 academic year.  
Alexandra Nur (Criminal Justice) published an article, "Visits as a Catalyst for Prison Program Engagement," in Crime & Delinquency. The paper explores how receiving visits while enrolled in prison education and vocation programs promotes retention in programming. The positive link between visits and program retention suggests that prison…
Alexandra Nur, Ph.D., (Criminal Justice) has published a new original article examining racial/ethnic disparities in prison misconduct sanctioning. Results suggest that Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White incarcerated persons are punished disparately for similarly severe prison misconduct infractions. The article is available at the Journal of…
Seong-min Park and Christopher Forepaugh (both Criminal Justice), along with a scholar from the Korean Institute of Criminology, recently published a peer-reviewed article, "Understanding the Association of Subjective Perception and Emotional Resentment With Micro- and Macro-Level Violence: A Multilevel SEM Examination of Relative Deprivation…
Sofia Takhtadjian and Issac Hernandez-Alcaraz (both from The Lincy Institute and Brookings Mountain West) were selected to represent Nevada as part of the 2023 Western Governors' Leadership Institute, where they attended the Western Governors' Association's 2023 Annual Meeting in Boulder, Colorado. The two participated in the institute’s…
The multidisciplinary social and healthcare research team, which includes Seong Park (Criminal Justice), visiting professor Changsun Kim (Medicine), and Ji Yoo (Medicine) published an article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, October 2022. The article includes a critical appraisal of the HOPE HOME Study, health outcomes of…