Description
Criminal justice is both a professional and a liberal arts program. Specifically, the criminal justice major consists of three components: non-criminal justice courses (corequisites), many in related liberal arts disciplines, which can be taken during the first two years of college; criminal justice proficiency courses; and criminal justice electives, which can be grouped into specialty areas or not, at the student’s option.
Program Requirements
Students in the Criminal Justice major pursue a Bachelor of Science degree, and must complete the corresponding degree's requirements.
General Education Requirements (32 credits*)
Major Program Requirements (36 credits)
Criminal Justice Core Proficiencies (required)*
- CRJ 101 Introduction to Criminal Justice
- CRJ 203 The Police Process
- CRJ 207 The Corrections Process
- CRJ 471 Research Methods
- CRJ 494 Criminology
AND ONE of the following:
- CRJ 205 Criminal Courts and Law
- PLS 320 Law and Legal Process
Criminal Justice Electives (choose 6)*
- CRJ 304 Investigations
- CRJ 311 Criminal Law
- CRJ 313 Constitutional Criminal procedure
- CRJ 321 Crime Patterns
- CRJ 323 White Collar Crime
- CRJ 331 Community Based Corrections
- CRJ 343 Juvenile Justice Process
- CRJ 371 Introduction to Forensic Science
- CRJ 375 Forensic Law
- CRJ 411 Organizational Leadership
- CRJ 431 Crime Prevention
- CRJ 434 Security Administration
- CRJ 451 International Criminal Justice
- CRJ 465 Terrorism
- CRJ 477 Family Violence
- CRJ 479 Victimology
- CRJ 481 Women and Criminal Justice
- CRJ 485 Issues in Juvenile Justice
- CRJ 489 Problems in Policing
- CRJ 490 Internship in Criminal Justice
- CRJ 491.01 GIS/Crime Mapping
- CRJ 491.02 Race and Crime
- CRJ 491.03 Death Penalty
- CRJ 499 Independent Study in Criminal Justice
*Grade of C or above required.
Co-requisite Courses (21 Credits)
- SOC100 Introduction to Sociology*
- PLS113 Introduction to American Politics
- PSH110 General Psychology*
Minorities Course - variety of interdisciplinary offerings.
Statistics - variety of interdisciplinary offerings.
Two upper-division (300/400 level) courses in sociology, psychology or political science.
* Denotes courses that meet both major and general education requirements
Electives (31 credits)
Total Credits (120 credits)
Additional Degree Requirements
- A minimum overall GPA of 2.0 in all required major courses (Major Departmental Requirements).
- Criminal Justice majors must earn a grade of C or better in all CRJ courses
- Successful completion CRJ 101 is required of all CRJ majors or CRJ minors prior to enrolling in any other CRJ course
- Successful completion of an approved Statistics course is required prior to enrolling in CRJ 471
- Completion of all college-wide degree requirements
Student Learning Outcomes
SLO #1: Understand how crime is defined and measured.
SLO #2: Develop a sound understanding of the causes of crime and society's response to crime.
SLO #3: Be able to apply critical thinking when evaluating issues in criminology and criminal justice.
SLO #4: Develop skills in expressing themselves clearly and coherently in oral and written language.
SLO #5: Understand some of the important ethical and cultural competencies required by those who wish to work in the criminal justice area.