Academic Catalog

Criminal Justice Concentration (Comprehensive)

Program Description

Legal Studies and Criminal Justice blends a strong liberal arts emphasis, a social science perspective in criminology, and a focus on pre-professional development for justice practitioners.  The Criminal Justice concentration encourages intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and extensive communication skills, and characteristics associated with rewarding professional and personal lives.  At the same time, a primary goal of the UW-Superior's Criminal Justice Program is the academic preparation of individuals planning criminal justice careers as well as the educational advancement of practitioners already enjoying criminal justice careers.

The criminal justice curriculum is both broad and deep, enabling students to critically reflect on the complexity of "the problem" of crime as well as our paradoxical responses to it.  Its study requires a multidisciplinary approach.  Housed in a Legal Studies major, the concentration in Criminal Justice examines various ways of "knowing" the problem, especially through a rigorous, scientific lens.  Social science methodologies are taught and evaluated in upper-level courses to facilitate conversation about evidence-based programming and practices in policing, courts, and corrections.  Completion of core courses in criminal justice permits students to become firmly grounded in a range of perspectives in the justice field.  Selection of courses from legal studies provides a significant context for appreciating the fluid boundaries of justice systems.  In addition to classes in criminal justice and legal studies, the curriculum offers coursework in multiple complementary areas, including accounting, philosophy, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.  Taking courses from these disciplines enable students to achieve global views of this complex problem and its possible solutions as well as to "drill down" into critical subject areas.  Selection of elective courses encourages students to pursue flexible paths of study tailored to their individual interests in such careers as law enforcement, law and course processing, juvenile justice, and corrections as well as graduate education.  The result is the achievement of baccalaureate competency in the study of criminal justice.

Graduates from UW-Superior's Criminal Justice program distinguish themselves in many diverse professional fields, in graduate and law schools, and in the community. Alumni serve in positions of responsibility across the United States in federal, state and local criminal and juvenile justice agencies as well as in Canadian justice agencies. Others have careers as private attorneys, paralegals, youth counselors, teachers, military officers, security/loss specialists and private investigators.

No minor is required because the Criminal Justice Concentration in Legal Studies is a comprehensive major.

Depending on course selection, the number of credits is either 57 or 58.

Requirements

57 total credits (58 credits with a core University Studies mathematics course - MATH 130 Elementary Statistics)

Legal Studies Core Courses
LSTU 115Law and Human Behavior3.00
LSTU 211Criminal Law3.00
LSTU 268Alternative Dispute Resolution3.00
Justice Core Courses
CJUS 106Survey of Criminal Justice3.00
CJUS 207Police and Society3.00
LSTU 321Judicial Process3.00
LSTU 493Senior Capstone3.00
CJUS 316Crime, Corrections and Punishment3.00
CJUS 448Criminology3.00
CJUS 463Delinquency and Juvenile Justice3.00
CJUS 492Criminal Justice Policy Issues and Reform3.00
Research Design and Quantitative Analysis Courses
CJUS 374Research Methods in Criminal Justice3.00
MATH 130Elementary Statistics3.00-4.00
or PSYC 301 Statistics for Psychological Research
Diversity Course
CJUS 312Gender, Crime, and Justice3.00
or LSTU 365 Race, Ethnicity, and Justice
Elective Credits 1
Select nine credits of the following Law and Justice courses:9.00
Fraud Examination and Investigation
Field Exp./Cert Prog CJUS
Criminal Investigations
Study Abroad
Community Corrections
Special Topics
Foundations of Ethical Policing
Issues in Ethical Policing
Leadership in Ethical Policing
Student Initiated Seminar
Individualized Research
Criminal Procedure
Contemporary Issues in Law and Society
Judicial Process
Jurisprudence
Comparative Law and Courts
U.S. Constitutional Law, Part I
U.S. Constitutional Law, Part II-Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
Internship
International Law
Select six credits of the following Human Behavior, Harms, and Ethics courses:6.00
Contemporary Moral Problems
U.S. State and Local Government
Power and Resistance
Theories of Justice
Social Psychology
Psychopharmacology
Psychological Disorders
Memory and Cognition
Race and Ethnicity
Crisis Intervention
Introduction to Addiction and Recovery
Total Hours57.00-58.00
1

With advisor's approval, other courses not listed below can be substituted and count as part of the 15 credits.