Criminal Justice and Criminology Major, B.S.

About the Program

The mission of the Criminal Justice and Criminology department is to transmit evolving definitions of justice and equality in a diverse civil society. The CJC department is committed to educating students with knowledge gleaned from scientific inquiry rooted in epistemology. We are committed to creating knowledge-based pathways to the study of crime, criminality, and the treatment of offenders as a part of our broader devotion to public safety overall. We work to prepare students for criminal justice careers or post-graduate work as critically educated, socially intelligent, ethically aware, and culturally sensitive people. We are committed to reconceptualizing policing, balancing empathy with fairness in courts, embracing restoration and rehabilitation in corrections, and acknowledging victimization as a destabilizing force in modern society. We aim to show students how unequal treatment before the law harms individuals, families, communities, and the social fabric of society, and we recognize that practicing justice requires the performance of mercy in service of others.

Program Mission Statement

The B.S. in Criminal Justice and Criminology prepares students for future work in policy, practice, and research across the criminal justice system, criminology, and its adjacent social institutions. The program focuses on students’ understanding criminal justice processing, theories of criminal behavior, and current issues in the criminal justice system, within the context of historical social injustices. We work to develop practitioners, leaders, and scholars for the criminal justice system to serve a diverse civil society motivated by the pursuit of equality and equity before the law.

Student Outcomes

The learning outcomes for the program are as follows: 

1. Demonstrate proficiency in law enforcement through exhibiting a fundamental understanding of history, theory, practice and legal environment, police organization, discretion, and subculture.  
2. Demonstrate proficiency in corrections through exhibiting a fundamental understanding of the development of correctional philosophy, incarceration, diversions, community-based corrections, and treatment of offenders.  
3. Demonstrate proficiency in law adjudication through exhibiting a fundamental understanding of criminal law, criminal procedures, prosecution, defense, as well as court procedures and decision-making.  
4. Demonstrate proficiency in criminology theory through exhibiting a fundamental understanding of the nature and causes of crime, social control mechanisms, typologies, offenders, and victims.  
5. Demonstrate proficiency in research and analytic methods through exhibiting a fundamental understanding of quantitative (including statistics) and qualitative methods for conducting and analyzing criminal justice research.  
6. Demonstrate proficiency in written and oral communication to a variety of audiences.  
7. Be able to employ ethical perspectives and critical thinking in applying their newly acquired knowledge base to related problems and changing fact situations.  
8. Be able to identify the effects of the criminal justice system on the lives of individuals and communities, as well as how criminal justice practitioners face the challenges of diversity in a free society.