Criminology
Dr. Roksana Badruddoja
Chair of the Department
Dr. Madeleine Novich
Director of Criminology
Criminology, as an interdisciplinary major, builds on the strengths of the social sciences and humanities, and ties together the Department’s areas of interest, including qualitative and quantitative methods of research (mixed methods approaches), economics, gender, class, critical race theory, social movements, crime, terrorism, social service, anthropology, and geography. The major focuses on contemporary empirical issues like policing, mass incarceration, cybercrime, drugs, and comparative criminal justice.
The program objectives are threefold:
-
Criminal Etiology: Students in the degree program will learn criminological theoretical foundations to objectively determine root causes of criminal and socially deviant behavior in terms of extraneous factors, including behavioral, social, sociological, cultural, and economic.
-
Penology: Students will develop evidence-based, effective, and humane/socially just means for analyzing deviant behavior and understanding culturally appropriate responses to crime and criminality.
-
Sociology of Law: Students will examine how laws are made and enforced.
The program covers a range of exciting, important, and timely criminology topics that will challenge preconceptions and broaden perspectives through a wide variety of courses, including electives such as Modern American Gangs, Contemporary Policing, Criminal Justice Ethics, and Mass Incarceration and Collateral Consequences.
As a criminology major, you will:
- Analyze the U.S. class structure and how class status affects one’s life
- Learn the logic and skills of social scientific research
- Gain first-hand experience collecting and analyzing data
- Survey major sociological theories, tracing contemporary approaches to classical sociologists
- Complete a capstone project based on original research
There are a vast number of career trajectories and opportunities for students graduating with degrees in criminology. The program prepares individuals aiming to pursue careers in policy evaluations, program evaluation, justice focused non-profits, law enforcement, political think-tanks, law school, and federal agencies, to name a few. Many criminology students choose to pursue graduate work, including law school.
Criminology Major
Requirements for a Major in Criminology
All majors must complete the following 33 credits with a minimum grade of C for all courses in the major:
| Criminology Core | 15 | |
| SOC 253 | Crime Mapping (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 270 | Criminology (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 294 | Gender, Crime & Justice (Fall) | 3 |
| SOC 307 | Research Methods (taken Fall of Junior/Senior year) | 3 |
| SOC 416 | Seminar in Sociology (taken Spring of Senior year) Prerequisites for criminology majors: SOC 270, SOC 307, and Structural Inequalities | 3 |
| Criminology Electives | 15 | |
| PSYC 257 | Forensic Psychology | 3 |
| SOC 273 | Mass Incarceration and Collateral Consequences | 3 |
| SOC 275 | Issues in Contemporary Policing (Fall) | 3 |
| SOC 308 | Juvenile Justice | 3 |
| SOC 310 | Sociology of Deviance | 3 |
| SOC 313 | Family Law (Fall) | 3 |
| SOC 317 | Anthropology of Drugs | 3 |
| SOC 323 | Constitutional Law: Governmental Powers (Cross listed: POSC 323) | 3 |
| SOC 326 | Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties (Cross listed: POSC 324) | 3 |
| SOC 327 | Power and Conflict | 3 |
| SOC 361 | Criminal Justice Administration | 3 |
| SOC 362 | Modern American Gangs (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 364 | Law and Society (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 366 | White Collar Crime | 3 |
| SOC 367 | Criminal Justice Ethics (Cross listed: RELS 399) | 3 |
| SOC 369 | Current Issues in Criminal Justice | 3 |
| Structural Inequalities Distribution | 3 | |
| SOC 290 | Codes of Gender (Fall) | 3 |
| SOC 295 | Capitalism (Fall) | 3 |
| SOC 296 | Introduction to Human Geography (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 302 | Race and Resistance (Spring) | 3 |
| SOC 304 | Social Inequalities (Spring) | 3 |
| Total Credits | 33 | |
Criminology majors interested in Geographic Information System (GIS), e.g. crime mapping--create, manage, analyze, and map crime data--can choose to pair the major with either a concentration or minor in Geography and requires consultation with the geography departmental advisor and must be approved by the Department Chair Dr. Roksana Badruddoja. Criminology majors interested in concentrating in Social Services requires departmental advising and must be approved by the Department Chair Dr. Roksana Badruddoja. A double major in Criminology and Sociology requires departmental advising and must be approved by the Department Chair Dr. Roksana Badruddoja.
The Department strongly recommends that all students in the criminology major complete a faculty-supervised internship for elective credit in a local social service agency: Sociology 475. Internship (3 credits). Assistance with locating a suitable placement is available with the Director of Criminology Dr. Madeleine Novich or at the Center for Career Development.