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Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice is an interdisciplinary major within Social Sciences. Department course offerings stress the concepts of restorative justice and social responsibility while at the same time exploring community alternatives to the traditional models of incarceration and punishment.

The major provides students with a comprehensive academic foundation in preparation for law school, graduate school, or a career in the administration of criminal justice.

With the creation of a Federal Department of Homeland Security and the ongoing integration of community, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in the service of counterterrorism, career opportunities in the field of criminal justice will continue to increase. Overall employment of police and detectives as well as the emergency management field, is projected to grow 3 percent from 2021 to 2031, About 68,500 openings for police and detectives are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

With a new ‘Criminal Profiling’ Track, students enrolling in the Criminal Justice Major will have a third Track option, beyond ‘Police Studies’ and ‘Crime and Society’. The ‘Criminal Profiling’ Track, like the other two, consists of five 3-credit courses (15 credits). The Track also includes the incorporation of one course (CRIM-390) as part of the Major Core requirements, by way of a choice between it and the currently required SOC-315: Terrorism and Political Violence.

Department of Criminal Justice Learning Outcomes

Students majoring in Criminal Justice take a series of courses that are designed to acquaint them with the theory and practice of criminal justice administration, investigation, and policing. As a result of this, upon graduation, students will:

  1. Demonstrate an awareness of the primary components of the criminal justice system, including police, courts, and corrections, as well as a thorough understanding of the concept of Restorative Justice and the Rehabilitation of Offenders.
  2. Evaluate the basis of law, constitutional issues, the decision-making process within the legal system, as well as decision-making in the criminal justice process; contrast criminal law with other forms of law in society.
  3. Analyze various methods of social science research including survey research, field research, and experimental research, in order to understand the correlation between theory and research.
  4. Understand the necessity of statistical procedures commonly used in the social sciences, in particular, those applied to descriptive research and hypothesis testing.
  5. Apply program content to the development of a capstone research project from beginning to end.