(Bachelor of Science Degree)
Criminal justice is the study of crime, its causes, and its effects on society. It is concerned with preventing and deterring criminal behavior, rehabilitating the offender, and providing a system where justice and rights are served. Graduates of the program have opportunities in a variety of criminal justice fields including policing, law, probation, juvenile services, private security, public administration/planning, counseling, research, and regulatory enforcement.
In addition to entry level employment opportunities, graduates may pursue advanced study in fields such as public administration, criminal justice and criminology, management, and law.
Total credit hours required for degree: 120
Learning Objectives
A student who graduates from the program will be able to demonstrate the following:
- Demonstrate knowledge of key criminal justice and criminological concepts, processes, and issues, including major legal terms, considerations, and landmark cases.
- Describe major criminological theories in terms of the cause(s) and control(s) of crime, considering the community.
- Exhibit critical thinking about crime and criminal justice policy claims and issues, with an emphasis on questioning the credibility of claims and statistics.
- Articulate how research is used to test hypotheses and inform policy decisions, including the design of evaluation studies.
- Describe how ethics influence the exercise of discretion in the field of criminal justice as well as in the conduct of criminological research.
- Communicate effectively about crime and the criminal justice system, including written and oral communication and technology proficiency.
- Demonstrate an understanding of what effective employment in a criminal justice setting involves, such as working with diverse others and professionalism.
- rticulate how economic and cybercrime influence traditional forms of crime and the criminal justice system’s response to them.
Special Requirements
Students in criminal justice are required to achieve a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale) across major, major-related, major elective, and major concentration courses by the first semester of their junior year and to maintain that average thereafter.
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