The Criminal Justice program is for students who want to serve in one of the governmental or social service organizations tasked with enforcing laws and serving communities by responding to and preventing crime. The program has a flexible major that prepares students for professional work in criminal justice and related fields by understanding crime, criminal justice processes, and the implementation of crime prevention in multicultural and diverse communities.
Program Requirements
Required General Education
Examines the making of criminal law, the evolution of policing, the adjudication of persons accused of criminal law violations, and the punishment of adult offenders.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
A critical consideration of definitions of juvenile delinquency, emphasis on micro and macro level of struggle in which delinquent behavior takes place, critique of current theories on delinquency, and the juvenile justice response to delinquency from a criminal justice lens.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Become informed enough to play your part in governing the United States. Start by learning about the Constitution, our rights and freedoms, how the national government works and the opportunities and challenges of citizen influence. Political Science methods, and the challenges of citizenship are emphasized.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
Overview of the structure and processes of social life; impact of social forces on individuals and groups; interdependence of society and the individual; social significance of social class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality; emphasis on critical analysis of social inequalities and injustice.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-08
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Experiential Diverse Cultures - Choose 3 - 4 Credit(s). Must complete at least one course
This course provides education in self-awareness and skills that are essential for living and working in a democratic and socially just society. The course addresses issues of oppression and social justice related to race/ethnicity, gender, age, class, religion, disability, physical appearance, sexual orientation, and nationality. The course addresses groups that have historically been excluded from western power and decision-making. Participants will examine mainstream and alternative viewpoints for values, validity, and outcomes using investigative and critical thinking skills.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
Students will participate in field trips, activities, and guest discussions that will enable them to interact with people ethnically (race, religion, lifestyle, etc.) different from the students, to understand their perspectives and to appreciate their unique experiences and/or contributions to the U.S. pluralistic society. Students are expected to learn actively in and outside the classroom by experiencing events or people from diverse cultural groups.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
An introduction to the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and identities, including challenges to homophobia and heterosexism. We will explore social and historical constructions of LGBT identities as they vary across ethnic, class, and gender lines.Fall, Spring
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
An introduction to the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and identities, including challenges to homophobia and heterosexism. We will explore social and historical constructions of LGBT identities as they vary across ethnic, class, and gender lines.Fall, Spring
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
This course provides an historical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Islamic world. The course examines Islam and Islamic cultures within a global context, from its beginnings through the contemporary period.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-08, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
This class traces the evolving history of race from its creation in early modern Europe to political uses of this history in the twenty-first century United States. Students will learn about whiteness and blackness as social constructions that implicated the trans-Atlantic slave trade, patterns of imperialism, systems of oppression, and notions of beauty in western society. Students will also be involved in historical commemoration and/or racial justice projects involving communities of color in Minnesota to reflect on how the historical context informs these activities and how history continues to be used politically.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-11
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
Promotes an understanding of the impact of physical and mental disabilities on people in their daily livesthrough in-class contacts and exercises with and about persons with disabilities.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Gold
Values, Ethics, and Critical Thinking - Choose 3 Credit(s). Must complete at least one course.
This anthropology course explores the areas of anatomical forensic science. Students will learn the techniques and methodology involved in collection, preservation, and analysis of evidence pertaining to human remains. The course will include such subjects as analysis of skeletal trauma, victim identification, bite-mark analysis, and crime scene recovery methods. Ethnics and standards in medico-legal investigations will also be stressed.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-03
The purpose of this course is to help students develop critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills necessary to manage the challenges they face now (choice of major) and in the future (career choice and balancing work and life roles). Meets General Education requirements for critical thinking.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-11
This course provides the knowledge and skills necessary to respond and perform in an emergency to help sustain life, reduce pain, and minimize the consequences of injury or sudden illness. This course includes an advanced level of First Aid certification, including bloodborne pathogens, and all aspects of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillation (CPR/AED) for the Emergency Medical Responder.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-11
Traditional syllogistic logic and an introduction to the elements of modern symbolic logic.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-02, GE-04
To what extent do the differences among races and between genders represent biological differences, and to what extent are they constructed by society? Is racism best conceptualized as an additional burden to sexism or as one different in kind?
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-7A
Discussion of theories of value and obligation.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-09
Discussion of the ways that a culture both creates human community and shapes self-identity. Exploration of similarities and differences between and interdependence among cultural traditions, and of vocabularies for assessing traditions.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-08
Introduction to community leadership-elected, professional, or voluntary-and the skills and values which support it.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-11
Introduction to community leadership-elected, professional, or voluntary-and the skills and values which support it.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-11
Diversity and Human Relations - Choose 3 - 4 Credit(s). Must complete at least one course.
Language provides not only communication but identification of oneself and one's group. Humans are extremely sensitive to language, dialect, jargon, and slang. An understanding of language and its relationship to culture is basic to any understanding of human beings.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-08
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Beginning ASL - Level I aims to develop a basic understanding and use of American Sign Language through learning parameters of sign, fingerspelling, basic grammar and a basic understanding of Deaf culture.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-11
The course explores communication with people from other cultures, why misunderstandings occur and how to build clearer and more productive cross-cultural relationships.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-08, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
A study of American racial/ethnic minorities, especially the histories of Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Their roles and contributions to American society will be emphasized.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course introduces students to multicultural and ethnic knowledge and values in and outside the United States. Students are exposed to such issues as race, culture, ethnicity, dominance, immigration, stereotypes, discrimination, and intergroup relations through interdisciplinary approaches-anthropological, economic, historical, political, psychological and/or sociological.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Cultural aspects of interactions between people and their environment focusing on spatial patterns of population, agriculture, politics, language, religion, industrialization, and urbanization. Emphasis is placed on the processes that create the cultural landscape and on management of land and natural resources.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-08
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course familiarizes students with the field of Gender and Women's Studies. It focuses on major questions and approaches to understanding gender alongside race, class, and sexuality, among other identity categories.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course familiarizes students with the field of Gender and Women's Studies. It focuses on major questions and approaches to understanding gender alongside race, class, and sexuality, among other identity categories.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Cultural and artistic traditions of groups that have experienced discrimination or exclusion in U.S. society and how these groups express themselves through the visual, literary and performing arts and other forms. May be repeated when topic changes.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This class will cover the psychological experiences of diverse individuals in American educational, work, health care, consumer, and legal environments. Diversity in this course will be broadly defined to include race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, obesity, pregnancy, disability status, and others as deemed appropriate. Topics of prejudice, discrimination and stigma will be discussed. We will also discuss potential solutions to diversity-related problems in these environments.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-7A
Relationships, marriage, and families are studied from a sociological perspective. Focuses on the connections between society, culture, social institutions, families, and individuals. Particular attention is given to the ways that race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality shape family patterns and dynamics.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Diversity and Social Justice in Society - Choose 3 - 4 Credit(s). Must complete at least one course.
Class introduces students to history of the discipline and surveys both historical and contemporary topics of importance to American Indian Studies including gender roles, education, sovereignty treaties, and oral traditions.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
Oral traditions are at the base of all American Indian cultures. This class will provide students with the necessary tools for a better understanding of traditional knowledge and its importance within diverse traditional cultures.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Course introduces students to the legal side of being American Indian. Politics and policies will be examined to show how a contemporary native experience is shaped through American courts, Presidential chambers, and Native activist movements.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course will explore the historical, social, political, and cultural experience of African Americans. It will also examine the contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of the United States.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Introduction to the history and cultures of the major Asian American ethnic groups with a comparative approach to their similarities and differences.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
A survey of the history and present status of Hispanics/Latinos in the United States from 1848. Emphasis will be on culture, history, and socio-political patterns.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Students will examine the gendered and systematic nature of violence. Special attention will be given to the ways in which violence against women is perpetuated through interpersonal relationships and through institutions such as schools, the judicial system, welfare policies. The effects of internalized oppressions, such as internalized sexism, racism, and homophobia will be discussed. Emphasis on feminist analysis and building skills for educating ourselves and others about constructing non-violent cultures.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Students will examine the gendered and systematic nature of violence. Special attention will be given to the ways in which violence against women is perpetuated through interpersonal relationships and through institutions such as schools, the judicial system, welfare policies. The effects of internalized oppressions, such as internalized sexism, racism, and homophobia will be discussed. Emphasis on feminist analysis and building skills for educating ourselves and others about constructing non-violent cultures.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
We explore the influence of gender on legal rights in the United States historically and today, focusing on constitutional rights, employment, education, reproduction, the family, gender-based violence, and related issues. We will study constitutional and statutory law as well as public policy. Race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and additional intersecting identities will be examined.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Social and Political Perspectives - Choose 6 - 8 Credit(s). Must complete at least two courses from at least two different disciplines
This course will explore the scientific, pharmacological, neurochemical and cultural aspects of psychoactive substances. The material is presented intuitively, with no mathematics. Course topics will include discussions of the major classes of pharmaceutical and psychoactive substances, basic neurochemistry, the role of psychoactive substances in medicine, the ritual use of psychoactive substances by traditional cultures, the FDA approval process, the significance and implications of drug testing, the controversy of drug-induced behavioral modification, national and global perspectives of substance abuse and the ethics of legalization. V
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-03
Addresses the justifications and the historical development of punishment, the legal and policy issues concerning capital punishment, and the use of incarceration as a response to crime.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-08
Explores social media and their impacts on society through consideration of technologies, social networks, markets, communities, politics and social movements, and major companies. Special focus on individuals' roles as users, producers, consumers, and laborers toward becoming responsible online citizens.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-09
This course will focus on the struggle for civil rights by diverse groups in the United States. Emphasis will be on how these struggles have impacted their communities and cultural pluralism in the U.S.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Explores how popular culture shapes and mirrors our understandings of gender and sexuality and their intersections with race and class. Critically examines representations of gender and race in popular culture forms such as film, television, music, books, and the internet.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-02, GE-06
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Through a series of historical simulations, students develop communication and oral reasoning skills by researching, writing, and participating in debates about key global political events that changed the course of history. Students will study primary and secondary sources related to the historical events. Students will draft, rewrite, and defend oral arguments based on their research, and they will conduct debates with other students in class.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-1B
Students will develop communication, reasoning, and collaborative skills through history-based exercises interrogating diverse and changing understandings of democracy in what is now the United States. Students will analyze historical sources highlighting American traditions of disagreement as well as creative compromise over the character and features of self-government, the narratives by which to understand the past, and the legacies and lessons of the past for the present. The course puts current divisions among Americans into historical context to help students widen their perspectives, work productively across differences, and learn to substantiate their opinions on public issues with historical and contemporary evidence.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-1B
This course provides information on a variety of topics related to chemical use, abuse and dependency. Students will be exposed to chemical dependency counseling, assessment and intervention techniques. Different drug classifications will be discussed in detail. Counselor core functions and ethics will be discussed also.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
Consideration of the basic philosophical approaches to the idea of justice and how this idea relates to other fundamental ideas in political philosophy, ethics, and law.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-06, GE-09
Combine study with action to remake yourself into a democratic citizen. Consider your beliefs, debate issues and learn political skills. Integrate these in practical public work on a real issue or project in a student group or community organization.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-09, GE-11
Rejoin the political debates of 1787 to understand the US Constitution. Compare the founding document with amendments, later usage and Supreme Court interpretations. Examine controversies over the meaning of the Constitution using the methods of political philosophers, historians, and legal scholars.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
This course is designed to provide a thorough introduction to the broad spectrum of theories and applications that make up the field of psychology
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05
You have spent years taking tests to measure learning, but do you know how to make the most of your learning in college? In this course we will look at what current learning science research in psychology tells us about how to best learn and remember. A strong emphasis will be made in applying science learning topics to college success.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-02
A critical description and analysis of selected social problems, as well as the social problems process through which problems are socially constructed and defined. A social constructionist approach examines how people and social systems define and react to social problems. Emphasis on the sociological perspective, critical thinking, roots of social inequality, and exploration of solutions and alternatives to existing social problems.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-7A
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
he objective of this course is to explore social welfare as a social institution. Consideration will be given to formal and informal efforts to meet common social needs of diverse populations. This course emphasizes social challenges and impact of oppression facing American society and the program and policy prescriptions designed to minimize or eliminate these problems.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
The objective of this course is to explore social welfare as a social institution. Consideration will be given to formal and informal efforts to meet common social needs of diverse populations. This course emphasizes social challenges and impact of oppression facing American society and the program and policy prescriptions designed to minimize or eliminate these problems.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course will identify and analyze global social, economic, political and environmental problems impacting community viability and explore the full range of solutions to these problems. The course will view communities as complex, sustainable organisms and bring together the works of the great minds working on sustainability.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-10
Major Common Core
This course will introduce students to the numerous agencies and organizations that make up the criminal justice system and its components. A primary goal for this course is to help students prepare for, as well as succeed in, a criminal justice system career.
- Prerequisites:
- none
The history, development, and application of criminal laws and criminal procedures in the criminal justice system.
- Prerequisites:
- none
A sociological perspective to examine the history of drug use and abuse in the United States. Multicultural issues in drug abuse, international drug distribution networks, prevention efforts, and legal issues will be discussed.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Students will learn core techniques in criminological and criminal justice research including research design and data analysis. Students will also write academic and/or professional reports summarizing literature searches, critiquing existing research, and demonstrating understanding of measurement, design, and observation.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Overview of the characteristics of victims, victim-offender relationships, societal victimization, victim's rights and services, and restorative justice. The focus will be on developing effective criminal justice responses to the victims/survivors and the perpetrators.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Advanced Crime Theory & Prevention provides an overview of the nature and causes of crime and victimization. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the course surveys theories of criminal behavior at the macro- & micro-level. Students will learn how to evaluate criminological theories. The course also covers the link between theory and crime prevention efforts, focusing primarily on how crime prevention efforts employed by legislatures, police, courts, and corrections agencies in the United States are derived from theory.
- Prerequisites:
- none
The course will examine the issue of ethics as it applies to the criminal justice profession to include why criminal justice professionals sometimes fail to live up to our community expectations and how those new to the profession can learn from the lessons of others and avoid ethical pitfalls. The course also delves into the issue of leadership and frames the concept within the criminal justice context while linking to examples of leadership from a diverse field of experiences.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Community Experiences - Choose 2 Credit(s). Course must be taken twice in different terms for a total of 2 credits
Students will engage in community experiences, public service interactions, experiences with a variety of diverse groups, and/or interactive panels that will provide for opportunities to reflect, observe, conceptualize, and grow as a future criminal justice professional.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Major Restricted Electives
Cultural Competency - Choose 3 Credit(s).
This course is designed to provide peace officer students with the foundational information, tools, and skills needed to improve interpersonal communications with coworkers and the public from all ethnic and cultural groups. This course also provides some historical information so students can contextualize and better understand why particular groups may distrust and resist peace officers and the criminal justice system as a whole.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Students will develop resources, skills, and strategies needed to address racism and inequity on their journey in building a more inclusive, connected, and effective criminal justice system. Students will discover a framework to help discuss issues related to cultural competency: learn about methods, practices, and values that define cultural competency and culturally based work in various fields and organizations.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Major Unrestricted Electives
Choose 12 Credit(s). 9 credits must be at the 300-400 level
- Prerequisites:
- none
This is a hands-on, exercise-based GIS for Law Enforcement course analyzing the contemporary realities of the spatial and geographic aspects of crime. Students acquire practical tools necessary to conduct effective mapping and spatial analyses of crime using GIS software. Lab activities are designed to benefit those working with public safety and emergency response systems.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Students will learn about the legal, cultural, and political factors that contribute to sexual assault and gendered violence. This course will combine hands-on training in activism from course instructors and community members in the field of sexual assault advocacy, as well as a background in theories of gender and sexual assault. Sexual assault advocates provide confidential services to victims of sexual violence, including hospital and legal advocacy, crisis counseling, and emotional support. Students who satisfactorily complete 40 hours of training will be certified as sexual assault advocates at the end of the semester.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
This course will introduce you to specific psychological theories and research that have been applied to the United States legal system. Course topics include eyewitness testimony and memory, false confessions, lie detection, gender and ethnicity, and jury processes, among others.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Prerequisites:
- none
Minor
A minor in any discipline is required.
4-Year Plan
The 4-Year Plan is a model for completing your degree in a timely manner. Your individual 4-Year plan may change based on a number of variables including transfer courses and the semester/year you start your major. Carefully work with your academic advisors to devise your own unique plan.
* Please meet with your advisor on appropriate course selection to meet your educational and degree goals.
First Year
Fall - 15 Credits
Examines the making of criminal law, the evolution of policing, the adjudication of persons accused of criminal law violations, and the punishment of adult offenders.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Overview of the structure and processes of social life; impact of social forces on individuals and groups; interdependence of society and the individual; social significance of social class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality; emphasis on critical analysis of social inequalities and injustice.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-08
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Become informed enough to play your part in governing the United States. Start by learning about the Constitution, our rights and freedoms, how the national government works and the opportunities and challenges of citizen influence. Political Science methods, and the challenges of citizenship are emphasized.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
The history, development, and application of criminal laws and criminal procedures in the criminal justice system.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Spring - 13 Credits
This course will introduce students to the numerous agencies and organizations that make up the criminal justice system and its components. A primary goal for this course is to help students prepare for, as well as succeed in, a criminal justice system career.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Second Year
Fall - 15 Credits
A critical consideration of definitions of juvenile delinquency, emphasis on micro and macro level of struggle in which delinquent behavior takes place, critique of current theories on delinquency, and the juvenile justice response to delinquency from a criminal justice lens.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Goal Areas:
- GE-05, GE-09
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Spring - 15 Credits
A sociological perspective to examine the history of drug use and abuse in the United States. Multicultural issues in drug abuse, international drug distribution networks, prevention efforts, and legal issues will be discussed.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Overview of the characteristics of victims, victim-offender relationships, societal victimization, victim's rights and services, and restorative justice. The focus will be on developing effective criminal justice responses to the victims/survivors and the perpetrators.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Third Year
Fall - 16 Credits
Advanced Crime Theory & Prevention provides an overview of the nature and causes of crime and victimization. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the course surveys theories of criminal behavior at the macro- & micro-level. Students will learn how to evaluate criminological theories. The course also covers the link between theory and crime prevention efforts, focusing primarily on how crime prevention efforts employed by legislatures, police, courts, and corrections agencies in the United States are derived from theory.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Spring - 16 Credits
Students will engage in community experiences, public service interactions, experiences with a variety of diverse groups, and/or interactive panels that will provide for opportunities to reflect, observe, conceptualize, and grow as a future criminal justice professional.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Fourth Year
Fall - 15 Credits
Students will develop resources, skills, and strategies needed to address racism and inequity on their journey in building a more inclusive, connected, and effective criminal justice system. Students will discover a framework to help discuss issues related to cultural competency: learn about methods, practices, and values that define cultural competency and culturally based work in various fields and organizations.
- Prerequisites:
- none
- Diverse Cultures:
- Purple
Spring - 16 Credits
Students will engage in community experiences, public service interactions, experiences with a variety of diverse groups, and/or interactive panels that will provide for opportunities to reflect, observe, conceptualize, and grow as a future criminal justice professional.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Transfer Pathways
A Transfer Pathway is a partnership between the Minnesota community colleges and Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Pathway suggests a plan for students with a specific associate degree to complete the last two years for a designated bachelor’s degree.
Students who are transferring to Minnesota State Mankato from a Minnesota community college should meet with an advisor in your college advising office to ensure the Pathway is an appropriate option for completing your degree.
More information on Transfer Pathways is available at https://www.mnsu.edu/transfer-pathways/
Third Year
Fall - 15 Credits
A sociological perspective to examine the history of drug use and abuse in the United States. Multicultural issues in drug abuse, international drug distribution networks, prevention efforts, and legal issues will be discussed.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Overview of the characteristics of victims, victim-offender relationships, societal victimization, victim's rights and services, and restorative justice. The focus will be on developing effective criminal justice responses to the victims/survivors and the perpetrators.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Spring - 15 Credits
Advanced Crime Theory & Prevention provides an overview of the nature and causes of crime and victimization. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the course surveys theories of criminal behavior at the macro- & micro-level. Students will learn how to evaluate criminological theories. The course also covers the link between theory and crime prevention efforts, focusing primarily on how crime prevention efforts employed by legislatures, police, courts, and corrections agencies in the United States are derived from theory.
- Prerequisites:
- none
Fourth Year
Fall - 15 Credits
Spring - 15 Credits
Policies
Admission requirements are based on university policy.
GPA Policy: This program follows the university policy on GPA requirements.
Internships: Students may only count up to six (6) credits of CJ498: Internship towards the Criminal Justice Major's Unrestricted elective credits. If a student takes CJ496, only six (6) credits may be counted towards the Criminal Justice Major's Unrestricted elective credits.
Minimum Courses Policy: All students, including transfer students, majoring in Criminal Justice must take a minimum of eighteen (18) different CJ, CORR, LAWE, or SOC credits that count towards the major at Minnesota State University Mankato. All students, including transfer students, seeking a minor in Criminal Justice must take a minimum of nine (9) different CJ, CORR, LAWE, or SOC credits that count towards the minor at Minnesota State University Mankato.
P/N Grading Policy: All CJ, CORR, LAWE, and SOC classes within the major, except for internships (CJ498), must be taken for a letter grade.
Repeat Policy: This program follows the university policy on course repeats.
Degree
Bachelor of Science
Major Credits
37
Total Credits
120
Locations
Mankato
Career Cluster
Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security