Department of Criminal Justice

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The Department of Criminal Justice offers a Bachelor of Science degree with the objectives of preparing students to engage in further study at the graduate and professional levels and to pursue careers in criminal justice. To achieve its objectives, the department requires students to complete the University College Core Curriculum, 48 or more credit hours in criminal justice, and additional requirements that will compliment education in criminal justice. A minor is not required to supplement the major, but discussion with your advisor about a minor that may complement your degree and your career/ higher education goals is encouraged. Instead, the department requires students to take free electives (any course, any level) to earn the required number of credit hours needed for the degree. The department offers an online degree completion program in cooperation with the North Carolina Community College System. Students may complete lower division classes online through the community college; required upper division classes are offered online by Fayetteville State University. The department also has articulation agreements with selected North Carolina community colleges which provide students with the knowledge needed to maximize their time at the community college in order to better facilitate degree completion upon admission to FSU.

Declaration of Major

In order to major in criminal justice, students must have achieved the following qualifications: 2.0 GPA and earned/ enrolled in at least 24 credit hours. A student who has been accepted into the Criminal Justice major and falls below 24 enrolled hours may be dropped from the major until the 24 credit hour requirement is achieved. First time freshman should declare their major in the second semester of their academic careers, and transfer students (who have transferred in at least 12 hours and are enrolled in at least 12 hours) should declare their CRJC or OCRJ major immediately upon acceptance to FSU.

Students declaring a major in criminal justice do NOT have to choose a minor to pair with the criminal justice major.

Information specific to Criminal Justice Majors

Students may not use life experience (field work in criminal justice or criminal justice-related field) to substitute for any classes, including CRJC 430 - Internship in Criminal Justice Systems . Students may earn 3 Phy. Ed. credits (HEED 112  and PEDU 100 ) and additional GSTU 200 credit for academy training (BLET, Fire Fighter, Correctional Officer) as long as the appropriate paperwork demonstrating successful completion of said academy is submitted to the Registrar’s Office.

Students may take CRJC 430 - Internship in Criminal Justice Systems  for three to six credit hours. Students are eligible to sign up for internship when they meet the following qualifications:

• 2.5 GPA
• 60 credit hours completed at the time the Internship begins
• Successful completion of CRJC 429 - Internship and Career Preparation in Criminal Justice  
• Permission of the Internship Coordinator

Students must take CRJC 429  in order to be eligible for the internship. CRJC 429  is a three-credit course and will be located in the Free Electives area of the online degree evaluation and curriculum guide unless otherwise instructed by the Department Chair.

CRJC 370  is a Special Topics course that may be repeated two additional times (for a total of 9 credit hours of CRJC 370  maximum) as long as the topic focus is different in each case.

Learning Outcomes

• Critical thinking - Use and analyze evidence to guide problem analysis, problem solving, and decision making.
• Communications skills - Express and interpret thoughts, ideas, and knowledge in a clear and coherent manner in both written and oral form.
• Technology and computing skills - Demonstrate ability to use Microsoft Word and to utilize library resources and online writing tools (ex. turnitin.com and SmartThinking) to research a criminal justice issue.
• Quantitative reasoning - Compute statistical analyses of data and/or demonstrate ability to interpret meaning of analyses.
• Ethical decision making - Apply analytical skills to criminal justice problems and identify the ethical implications within such problems along with potential solutions.
• Understanding diversity - Identify and discuss the differential effects and treatment of people by and/or within the criminal justice system based on racial, ethnic, sexual orientation, sex, gender, and age characteristics.

Programs

• Criminal Justice, B.S.

• Criminal Justice Minor

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