Undergraduate Program
The Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice offers both a campus-based and fully online pathway toward its bachelor degree. The undergraduate program seeks to educate students about the causes, consequences, prevention, and control of criminal and law-violating activity at multiple levels of analysis. Our undergraduate curriculum focuses on (1) criminology and criminal justice theories and empirical research addressing the role of individuals, families, communities, and society in the production and prevention of crime, (2) the justice system’s function in controlling crime, and (3) a critical analysis of the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of related policies and practices. Educational experiences facilitated inside and outside of class help promote students’ long term professional success by developing their capacity for critical reasoning, problem-solving, and effective communication.
Criminology & Criminal Justice is an interdisciplinary major, a fact demonstrated by the diverse backgrounds of our full-time and part-time faculty. Students graduating from our program have a wide range of choices when they look for employment or post-graduate education. Recent graduates have found jobs in law enforcement (e.g., police officer, immigration, crime analyst), courts (e.g., victim advocate, administration), corrections (e.g., parole officer, facility management), human services (e.g., offender counseling, child welfare), and crime prevention (e.g., neighborhood crime prevention specialist, private security). Other alumni from our program have gone on to pursue advanced degrees in such areas as law, criminal justice, psychology, social work, public administration, and urban planning.
Criminology and Criminal Justice, B.A./B.S.
Requirements
In addition to meeting the general university degree requirements, students who major in Criminology & Criminal Justice (CCJ) must complete core and elective courses within the department. Some of these courses require senior status, and students should read course descriptions in the current PSU Bulletin before registration. All core and elective courses submitted to satisfy the requirements for the major, whether taken at PSU or elsewhere, must be passed with a grade of “C” (2.00 GPA) or above. A course grade of C- does not satisfy this requirement. Courses taken under the undifferentiated grading option (pass/no pass) will not be accepted toward fulfilling department major requirements. The CCJ degree requirements are:
Core Courses
Transfer equivalent courses may hold a different credit value than the ones listed here.
| CCJ 200 | Criminology and Criminal Justice | 4 |
| CCJ 230 | Policing in America | 4 |
| CCJ 240 | Punishment and Corrections | 4 |
| CCJ 310 | American Courts | 4 |
| CCJ 317 | Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice | 4 |
| CCJ 320U | Theories of Crime & Justice | 4 |
| CCJ 330U | Crime Control Strategies | 4 |
| CCJ 340 | Crime Analysis | 4 |
| CCJ 380 | Criminal Justice Research | 4 |
| CCJ 404 | Cooperative Education/Internship | 8 |
| CCJ 420 | Criminal Law and Legal Reasoning | 4 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 45-48 |
CCJ Electives
Students take 8 credits of courses from the 100-400 level range. An additional 16 credits must be taken at the 300-400 level range, totaling 24 credits.
Total Credit Hours: 69-72