Criminal Justice

Degree Requirements (A.S.) Degree Requirements (B.S.) Degree Works

Note: Degree requirements effective for enrolled students beginning Fall 2023. All enrolled students, including matriculating students prior to Fall 2023, can review their degree program requirements and track progress to degree completion with our degree audit and advisement tool, Degree Works. 

Criminal Justice Minor

Degree Requirements - Minor

The Commonwealth University Criminal Justice program offers a concentration in Conservation Law Enforcement. This concentration is specifically designed to prepare students for competitive employment in a variety of settings related to conservation, management, and protection of our natural resources, species, and habitats.

Topics covered include:

• Conservation Law Enforcement
• Environmental Justice
• Environmental Sociology
• Environmental Issues and Choices
• Environmental Conservation and Preservation
• Environmental Sustainability and Humanity

The Conservation Law Enforcement concentration is available at the Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, Mansfield, and Clearfield locations of Commonwealth University.

Through this certificate program we provide education, training, and a foundation for achieving two-year and four-year degrees in preparation for employment in high-demand fields with above-average job market growth in rural, suburban, and urban communities.  

This program is only offered to inmates in PA State Correctional Institutions. Those interested in enrolling in the certificate program should contact their guidance counselors. 

• Criminal Justice

Upon completion of the B.S. Criminal Justice degree program, students will be able to:

1. (History): Describe the history and legal development of the criminal justice system and relate the impact of historical forces to the current roles of the police, courts, and corrections in administering justice.
2. (Communication): Construct coherent arguments, narratives, or explications of issues, problems, or processes to achieve shared understanding of meaning depending on the effective use of language across multiple expressive modes including digital platforms.  
3. (Ethics): Describe basic ethical reasoning perspectives, articulate the origins of personal core beliefs, and critique the influence of ethical perspectives on issues within the criminal justice system.
4. (Diversity): Identify the ways in which power differentials operate, are experienced, and are reinforced at individual, group, community, institutional, and global levels and how they impact the criminal justice system.
5. (Theory): Compare and contrast criminological theories to evaluate the causes/correlates of crime as well as how society perceives and responds to criminal behavior.
6. (Research): Propose a researchable question, identify relevant sources in the academic literature, and formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and correlates of criminal behavior.
7. (Analysis): Interpret data and apply appropriate analytical techniques to critique criminological research and public policy.

Upon completion of the B.S. Criminal Justice degree program with a concentration in Conservation Law Enforcement, students will be able to:

1. (History): Describe the history and legal development of the criminal justice system and relate the impact of historical forces to the current roles of the police, courts, and corrections in administering justice.
2. (Communication): Construct coherent arguments, narratives, or explications of issues, problems, or processes to achieve shared understanding of meaning depending on the effective use of language across multiple expressive modes including digital platforms.
3. (Ethics): Describe basic ethical reasoning perspectives, articulate the origins of personal core beliefs, and critique the influence of ethical perspectives on issues within the criminal justice system.  
4. (Diversity): Identify the ways in which power differentials operate, are experienced, and are reinforced at individual, group, community, institutional, and global levels and how they impact the criminal justice system.  
5. (Theory): Compare and contrast criminological theories to evaluate the causes/correlates of crime as well as how society perceives and responds to criminal behavior.
6. (Research): Propose a researchable question, identify relevant sources in the academic literature, and formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and correlates of criminal behavior.
7. (Analysis): Interpret data and apply appropriate analytical techniques to critique criminological research and public policy.

Upon completion of the A.S. Criminal Justice degree program, students will be able to:  

1. (History): Describe the history and legal development of the criminal justice system and relate the impact of historical forces to the current roles of the police, courts, and corrections in administering justice.  
2. (Communication): Construct coherent arguments, narratives, or explications of issues, problems, or processes to achieve shared understanding of meaning depending on the effective use of language across multiple expressive modes including digital platforms.
3. (Ethics): Describe basic ethical reasoning perspectives, articulate the origins of personal core beliefs, and critique the influence of ethical perspectives on issues within the criminal justice system.  
4. (Diversity): Identify the ways in which power differentials operate, are experienced, and are reinforced at individual, group, community, institutional, and global levels and how they impact the criminal justice system.
5. (Theory): Compare and contrast criminological theories to evaluate the causes/correlates of crime as well as how society perceives and responds to criminal behavior.  
6. (Research): Propose a researchable question, identify relevant sources in the academic literature, and formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and correlates of criminal behavior.
7. (Analysis): Interpret data and apply appropriate analytical techniques to critique criminological research and public policy.

Upon completion of the Criminal Justice minor, students will be able to: 

1. (History): Describe the history and legal development of the criminal justice system and relate the impact of historical forces to the current roles of the police, courts, and corrections in administering justice.
2. (Communication): Construct coherent arguments, narratives, or explications of issues, problems, or processes to achieve shared understanding of meaning depending on the effective use of language across multiple expressive modes including digital platforms.
3. (Ethics): Describe basic ethical reasoning perspectives, articulate the origins of personal core beliefs, and critique the influence of ethical perspectives on issues within the criminal justice system.  
4. (Diversity): Identify the ways in which power differentials operate, are experienced, and are reinforced at individual, group, community, institutional, and global levels and how they impact the criminal justice system.  
5. (Theory): Compare and contrast criminological theories to evaluate the causes/correlates of crime as well as how society perceives and responds to criminal behavior.  
6. (Research): Propose a researchable question, identify relevant sources in the academic literature, and formulate hypotheses to explain the causes and correlates of criminal behavior.
7. (Analysis): Interpret data and apply appropriate analytical techniques to critique criminological research and public policy.

Upon completion of the 24-credit certificate in Rehabilitative Justice, students will be able to:

1. Articulate the value of multidisciplinary approaches to knowledge and problem solving.
2. Compose written documents for particular audiences, purposes and genres.
3. Identify cultural differences in written, verbal and nonverbal communication and apply that understanding in a peer support environment.
4. Apply multidisciplinary social science principles in academic and peer support environments.  
5. Apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to academic and peer support situations.  
6. Apply theories, techniques and strategies of chemical dependence in a peer support environment.  
7. Determine basic psychological concepts, vocabulary, and principles concerning personal adjustment, coping, and emotional awareness, and apply them in a peer support environment.

From honorariums to full-tuition waivers, scholarships exist to reward your hard work and dedication to the major. For more information on scholarships, click here.