Academic Programs
Certificate in Criminal Law
To earn a Certificate in Criminal Law, a student must complete the eighty-six semester hours required for the Juris Doctor degree and must satisfy all JD requirements. Within the elective course work required for the JD, a student must complete nine (9) hours of required courses and six (6) hours of elective courses from the listed criminal law courses. All courses are three (3) credits unless otherwise indicated. Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Evidence do not count toward the Certificate. Certificate courses may not be audited.
An applicant must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 in the Certificate courses. If a student takes more than 18 hours required for the Certificate, all of the criminal Law courses will factor into the final GPA. A student may earn a maximum of one Certificate while enrolled in law school.
Andrea D. Lyon
Associate Dean for Clinical Programs
Clinical Professor of Law
Director, Center for Justice in Capital Cases
Supervisor, Death Penalty Legal Clinic
Required Courses
- Law 464: Advanced Criminal Procedure: Pre-Trial
- Law 465: Advanced Criminal Procedure: Trial & Post-Trial
- And one of the below: Law 524: Field Placement with Substantial Criminal Work (Professor Decker must approve it for the certificate) OR
- Law 429: Legal Clinic: Death Penalty OR
- Law 429: Legal Clinic: Criminal Appeals OR
- Law 514: Legal Clinic Death Penalty OR
Certificate Electives
- Law 213: Feminist Jurisprudence: Domestic Violence
- Law 250: Seminar: Death Penalty
- Law 250: Seminar: Federal Criminal Law
- Law 250: Seminar: International Criminal Law: Substantive
- Law 250: Seminar: International Criminal Law: Procedural
- Law 250: Seminar: Selected Issues in Criminal Procedure
- Law 313: Juvenile Justice
- Law 314: Corrections
- Law 315: Federal Habeas Corpus Practice & Procedure
- Law 319: Litigation Strategy: Criminal
- Law 342: Criminal Drug Policy
- Law 403: Forensic Evidence
- Law 455: DNA in the Courtroom
- Law 457: Feminist Jurisprudence
- Law 507: Federal Criminal Law
- Law 525: Death Penalty Clinic Substantive Course (1 credit)
- Law 618: Criminal Tax Procedure (2 credits)
- Law 730: Mental Health Issues in Criminal Law
Application for Admission (NON - JD Student)
Students may only apply for one certificate.
