Criminal Justice

Nathan R. Moran, Chair (Martin Building 105)
Professors: Fidelie, Kuanliang, Moran
Associate Professor: Atkins
Instructor: Alpers
Professor Emeritus: Grant

Criminal Justice is a discipline that encompasses the preservation and protection of social order in a free society. It includes such principles as democracy, rule of law, constitutionalism, civil liberties, and the safeguarding of citizens against intimidation and oppression. The Criminal Justice curriculum, which is based on the University’s liberal arts core, is designed to prepare students for higher education or entering careers in criminal justice. Graduates are expected to continue their personal and professional development in a variety of practical settings. To achieve this mission, four dimensions of development serve as a basis for the curriculum.

Knowledge, Reasoning, Judgment: The Criminal Justice curriculum provides students the opportunity and assistance to acquire knowledge of the roles of policing, courts, laws, corrections, and international affairs as they contribute to social order. Students will gain knowledge of the history, concepts, and critical issues in these areas through criminal justice required courses. The curriculum further provides a theoretical foundation of the discipline, combined with a thorough understanding of the scientific methods, as it applies to criminal justice. This combination is expected to sharpen the students’ reasoning and judgment - qualities imperative to rational functioning in the discipline.
Ability, Skills, Integration: The Criminal Justice curriculum provides students with the ability to achieve the professional goals of criminal justice. Students will learn how to prudently integrate knowledge and practice in criminal justice. Furthermore, the curriculum provides students with an opportunity to develop the individual and group skills necessary to meet various role expectations.
Conduct, Professionalism, Ethics: The Criminal Justice curriculum will provide graduates with an appreciation for the complexity and dilemmas associated with the criminal justice profession. Criminal Justice students will be exposed to the moral and ethical dimensions of the various careers within the discipline and will be charged with the essential aptitudes necessary for their professional conduct.
Vision, Change, Adaptation: The Criminal Justice curriculum will provide students with an understanding of the discipline as it currently exists and as it is envisioned in the future. The Criminal Justice student will be able to apply vision in the face of change and to respond to the evolving nature of criminal justice and society. Furthermore, students will be equipped with the tools of adaptation for making these changes.

Programs and Courses

Programs

Major

Criminal Justice, B.S.C.J.

Minor

Criminal Justice Minor

Courses

Criminal Justice