The purpose of the Criminal Justice undergraduate program is to provide students interested in the law enforcement, criminal law, corrections and the criminal court system with a broad educational background emphasizing the social sciences, and at the same time providing basic knowledge in the criminal justice field to the extent of specialization compatible with general university and school requirements. The curriculum leads to a Bachelor of Sciences degree.

Degree Requirement

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice will be awarded to a student who has successfully completed the following:

  1. A maximum of 122-124 semester hours of course work is required for graduation. A minimum of twenty-seven (27) of these hours must be taken in the Criminal Justice (CJ) course sequence, twelve (12) of the hours must be taken in the Political Sciences (GT) course sequence, and fifteen (15) hours in the Sociology (SY) course sequence. There are fifty (50) hours of core courses, and an additional fifteen (15) hours of Social Sciences, and six (6) hours of electives in the Social Sciences or psychology.

  2. The satisfactory completion of each of the 27 hours of Criminal Justice courses, 6 hours of Political Science courses, and 3 hours of Sociology courses with a 3.0 (B) or better grade is a basic requirement. These specific course requirements include: CJ 200-Introduction to Criminal Justice; CJ 230-Introduction to Law Enforcement; CJ 350-Court and Criminal Justice; CJ 370-Corrections; CJ 393-Criminal Law; CJ 330-Criminal Investigation; CJ 411-Deviant Behavior; CJ 415-Criminal Justice Procedure and Evidence; CJ 470-Public and Private Security; GT 332-Constitutional Law II; GT 327-The Judicial Process; SY 365-Racial and Cultural Minorities. Also, the student must successfully complete SS 473-Social Science Internship and the six (6) hours of elective with 2.0 or better grade.

  3. A minimum cumulative (overall) average of 2.5 is required for graduation.

  4. Students must notify the Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program of their intention to graduate at least one semester in advance of the expected date of graduation.