Criminal Justice (Interdisciplinary Minor)

The Criminal Justice minor is offered by the Department of Sociology. Students take courses in a variety of social-science disciplines and explore different perspectives on crime, corrections, and the law. The minor introduces students to the institutions involved in society's handling of crime. It also is designed to heighten awareness of the theoretical and philosophical issues involved in defining, explaining, and deterring crime and to introduce students to social-science research on the nature and extent of crime.

In conjunction with a major program, the minor in Criminal Justice provides students with the appropriate entry-level qualifications for many professional positions in criminal justice fields, and prepares them for graduate study in criminology or criminal justice. The minor is not available to students majoring in Criminology. Students interested in minoring in Criminal Justice should contact the chairperson of the Department of Sociology (216) 687-4500, who coordinates the minor.

Required Courses:

Students wishing to minor in Criminal Justice must complete three core, one law elective, and three general elective courses from the list below for a minimum of 23 semester credit hours:

1. Criminal Justice Core Courses
   • SOC 250 Introduction to Criminology
   • SOC 344 U.S. Criminal Justice Systems
   • SWK 240 Administration of Justice
2. Law Electives:
   • PSC 310 Constitutional Law
   • PSC 311 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
   • SOC 342 Sociology of Law
   • SWK 259 The Child, the Family and the Law
   • SWK 375 Criminal Law
3. Elective Courses: (A course taken as a law elective cannot also be counted as a general elective).
   • ECN 350 Economics of Crime and Punishment
   • ECN 450 Economics of Law
   • PHL 341 Philosophy of Law
   • PHL 453 Social, Political, and Legal Philosophy
   • PSC 310 Constitutional Law
   • PSC 311 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
   • PSY 345 Abnormal Psychology
   • SOC 311 Individual and Society
   • SOC 341 Juvenile Delinquency
   • SOC 342 Sociology of Law
   • SOC 344 U.S. Criminal Justice Systems
   • SOC 345 Social Control
   • SOC 346 Corporate and Governmental Deviance
   • SOC 347 Sociology of Policing
   • SOC 348 Sociology of Corrections
   • SOC 349 Women and Crime
   • SOC 360 Sociology of Interpersonal Violence
   • SOC 394 Special Topics in Criminology (various)
   • SOC 491 Criminology Internship
   • SWK 259 The Child, the Family and the Law
   • SWK 341 Corrections: Institutional and Community-Based
   • SWK 371 Constitutional Criminal Procedure
   • SWK 374 Law Enforcement in Society
   • SWK 375 Criminal Law
   • SWK 470 Problems and Issues in Criminal Justice

For additional information, contact the chairperson of the Department of Sociology at (216) 687-4500.

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