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Criminal Justice

The Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice from the University of Mount Union can provide students with the skills to obtain a career in any number of fields. Whether seeking to pursue a career in law enforcement or private security, a degree in criminal justice can help students reach their full potential.

The criminal justice degree offers four tracks to choose from – law enforcement, community corrections, forensic studies, or criminology. The courses allow students to study a wide variety of topics from dedicated faculty. 

Criminal Justice Major Quick Facts

The criminal justice degree requires a total of 120 credits, with a total of 50 credits being specific to the major. Students will also need to complete the Integrative Core, a total of 32 credits. Students interested in a career in criminal justice will get hands-on experience by participating in numerous opportunities including: 

  • The opportunity to use an empty campus house as a mock crime scene for a burglary alongside members of Alliance Police Department (APD)
  • The opportunity to gather evidence from a mock road traffic scene set up on Mount Union’s campus as well as the opportunity to learn from Ohio State Highway Patrol Investigation Officers
  • Opportunities for internships in the field
  • Access to a fully equipped investigative crime office on campus
  • Opportunities to practice with fingerprinting kits, fingerprint identification keys, and ballistics data, and reports


Curriculum

As an interdisciplinary study, criminal justice combines sociology, psychology, forensic science, legal studies, philosophy, political science and urban studies, and tries to identify and explain patterns of criminal behavior. As a criminal justice major, you have the opportunity to pick between one of four tracks:

  • Law Enforcement
  • Community Corrections
  • Forensic Studies
  • Criminology

The law enforcement concentration is for students who wish to pursue a career in a variety of state and local law enforcement agencies. You will study topics ranging from juvenile delinquency to criminology to family violence. The applied criminal justice concentration is designed for those interested in pursuing a career in corrections, probation, or parole. Those who choose this track will take courses involving drugs and crime, behavior and society, among a variety of others. 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAM LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will demonstrate effective. . .

  • Oral communication through the presentation of an academic research project in the major; 
  • Research design based on acceptable standards of the discipline;
  • Analysis which takes into account the interdisciplinary nature of the work in criminal justice;
  • Written communication as demonstrated in the senior culminating project paper;
  • Synthesis of disciplinary theory and perspectives into the research project.

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