Criminal Justice Overview

General Information
Welcome to the Criminal Justice Program web site. We are building an exciting new program in an emerging field and invite you to be a part of it! As a unique feature, the criminal justice major will offer cutting-edge courses in restorative justice. Restorative Justice emphasizes the ways in which crime harms relationships in the context of community. (Minnesota Dept. of Corrections) Restorative justice is a victim-centered response to crime that provides opportunities for those most directly affected by crime—the victim, the offender, their families and representatives of the community—to be directly involved in responding to the harm caused by the crime.

"Competence, Compassion, Commitment," and positive social change and service to the community are at the forefront of the Criminal Justice program. The heart of the major is people caring about and effectively supporting other people, while promoting social justice.

The criminal justice major will offer a focused interdisciplinary exposure to all aspects of crime and criminal justice. Courses in the program include those dealing with crime, youth, and the responses to crime and delinquency by criminal justice agencies and organizations in the community. The criminal justice curriculum has a liberal arts framework which prepares students for graduate school as well as for criminal justice related employment in industry or government.

Specific Information
The Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice combines a core of basic and allied courses that provide the student with a practical liberal arts perspective of this growing field. The student will gain a solid understanding of the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis in the following areas:

• Critical Approaches to the study of crime and society
• Alternative Methods in justice
• Restorative Justice
• Juvenile Justice
• Policing
• Courts
• Corrections

Criminal Justice majors will have the opportunity to complete an Internship/Practicum and work on community projects through service learning which will assist students to be urban leaders in their fields, and in their communities.

Career Information
The criminal justice major seeks to foster the development of graduates who will be catalysts for social and personal change in the urban environment. Careers in the Criminal Justice field can be found at the grass-roots, community, local, county, state, and federal levels.