Degree Requirements

Provides an overview of the criminal justice system and its processes.

An interdisciplinary perspective to examine the causes, measurement, patterns and the effects of socioeconomic status on crime and criminal behavior.

Focuses on the study of victimization by examining the causes and consequences of victimization as well as the criminal justice system's response to victims of crime. Contemporary topics in the field of victimology are discussed in detail.

Explores the creation of deviance, the process of becoming deviant, and society's reactions to such issues as civil disorder, crime, mental illness, addiction, and sexual deviance.

Course will help students build the analytical and critical skills necessary to gain better insight and understanding of race and ethnicity in relation to crime and the justice system.

Explores the changing roles of women in the criminal justice system. The course focuses on women offenders, women victims, and women criminal justice professionals.

An examination of domestic and sexual violence including offender accountability, victim advocacy, and the CJ response.

An examination of restorative justice as an alternative form of justice for all parties.

This course critically examines the phenomenon of serial murder and serial killers in society from various theoretical perspectives. The purpose of the course is to study the historical and contemporary analyses of serial killers in society, assess the development of serial killers, the impact of the media on public perceptions of serial murder, and extend our understanding of the etiology of serial killers in modern society.
Prerequisite: Take CJ-101;

Examines the parameters and magnitude of white-collar crime and the literature that has been proffered as explanation for it.
Prerequisite: Take CJ-101

Examines criminological theory within the content of film and popular culture.
Prerequisite: Take CJ-101

Explores how organized crime is structured and how it can be controlled.
Prerequisite: Take CJ-101

This course uses an interdisciplinary perspective to examine the causes of crime and deviance. Specifically, this course utilizes available research to lead students to a well-rounded understanding of why people do - and do not - commit crime.
Prerequisite: TAKE CJ-206

Exploration of the criminal justice system as it deals with an increasing number of clients with mental health issues.

Through scientific research and theory, students will better understand public policy and the practices that define the effective police organization.

This course focuses on sociological theory and research on juvenile delinquency in the U.S.

This sociological theory course gives students an understanding of the works of the major classical theorists whose ideas played a central role in the development of sociological theory and introduces students to the dominant contemporary perspectives in social thought. Emphasis is on developing the students' knowledge of the range of thinking that exists concerning social issues and what the strengths and weaknesses of each position are, therefore enabling them to work within any point of view. A seminar format is used, requiring students to do assigned readings before a topic is discussed in class because it is through class discussions that ideas are analyzed, dissected, and critically assessed. A prerequisite to SO 384
Prerequisite: SO 110 and 3 credits 200 or 300 level SO courses