A Bachelor of Arts degree is offered in Criminology and Criminal Justice. The Criminology and Criminal Justice program is designed to provide a liberal arts education for students interested in employment or graduate education in criminology, criminal justice and related areas, for example, counseling and social work.
Criminology and Criminal Justice students participate in the planned sequence of the liberal arts core to prepare them with an understanding of the moral, philosophical, historical and scientific base from which to understand and make decisions and judgments when presented with criminal justice topics. The program in Criminology and Criminal Justice provides basic preparation that relates the criminal justice area to liberal arts education and forms a foundation for employment opportunities in such fields as policing, corrections, probation and for graduate studies.
Admission
Students intending to enter the program as majors must formally apply for admission. Prerequisites for admission are:
- Completion of 6 hours of coursework in criminology and criminal justice.
- Overall GPA of at least 2.0 as well as 2.5 in criminology and criminal justice courses.
Graduation with a major in criminology and criminal justice requires completion of at least 21 credits in the major at Saint Xavier University.
Requirements (39 credit hours)
The criminology and criminal justice major requires a minimum of 39 credit hours, including:
Criminology and Criminal Justice Core Requirements (30 credit hours)
- CCJ 101: Introduction to the Criminal Justice System (3)
- CCJ 201: Law Enforcement and Society (3)
- CCJ 202: Corrections (3)
- CCJ 214: Law, Courts and Justice (3)
- CCJ 245: Race, Class, Gender and the Criminal Justice System (3)
- CCJ 294: Research Methods and Design (3)
- CCJ 307: Juvenile Justice and Delinquency (3)
- CCJ 312: Criminology (3)
- CCJ 316: Victimology (3)
- CCJ 368: Senior Seminar (3)
Criminology and Criminal Justice Electives (9 credit hours)
Two of the three CCJ electives must be 300-level courses.
CCJ 294, CCJ 312, CCJ 368 and six additional credit hours in criminology and criminal justice must be taken at Saint Xavier University. A grade of C or better is required for the core courses in the major of criminology and criminal justice.
Students must complete MATH 135: Introduction to Statistics (or other statistics course, per chair approval) for a statistics element of their Criminology and Criminal Justice degree. It is strongly encouraged that students complete MATH 135 as their General Education college-level math requirement.
To qualify for CCJ 368: Senior Seminar, students must have completed MATH 135 and CCJ 294 and have senior standing.
Criminology and Criminal Justice Elective Courses
Students are offered a wide range of elective courses to supplement the core requirements. Students are encouraged to work with their faculty advisors to select elective courses that reflect their general interests and career goals. These electives can be found under the course descriptions section of the catalog.