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 and adjust 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)
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Studies Core Courses | ||
| LSTU 115 | Law and Human Behavior | 3.00 |
| LSTU 211 | Criminal Law | 3.00 |
| LSTU 268 | Alternative Dispute Resolution | 3.00 |
| Justice Core Courses | ||
| CJUS 106 | Survey of Criminal Justice | 3.00 |
| CJUS 207 | Police and Society | 3.00 |
| LSTU 321 | Judicial Process | 3.00 |
| CJUS 316 | Crime, Corrections and Punishment | 3.00 |
| CJUS 448 | Criminology | 3.00 |
| CJUS 463 | Delinquency and Juvenile Justice | 3.00 |
| LSTU 485 | Internship | 3.00 |
| CJUS 492 | Criminal Justice Policy Issues and Reform | 3.00 |
| CJUS 498 | Senior Capstone Presentation 1 | 0.00 |
| Research Design and Quantitative Analysis Courses | ||
| CJUS 374 | Research Methods in Criminal Justice | 3.00 |
| MATH 130 | Elementary Statistics | 3.00-4.00 |
| or PSYC 301 | Statistics for Psychological Research | |
| Diversity Course | ||
| CJUS 312 | Gender, Crime, and Justice | 3.00 |
| or LSTU 365 | Race, Ethnicity, and Justice | |
| Elective Credits 2 | ||
| Select nine credits of the following Law and Justice courses: | 9.00 | |
| Field Exp./Cert Prog CJUS | ||
| Criminal Procedure | ||
| Criminal Investigations | ||
| Contemporary Issues in Law and Society | ||
| Study Abroad | ||
| Community Corrections | ||
| Special Topics | ||
| Judicial Process | ||
| Jurisprudence | ||
| Comparative Law and Courts | ||
| International Law | ||
| U.S.Constitutional Law, Part I | ||
| U.S. Constitutional Law, Part II-Civil Liberties and Civil Rights | ||
| Fraud Examination and Investigation | ||
| Student Initiated Seminar | ||
| Individualized Research | ||
| Select six credits of the following Human Behavior, Harms, and Ethics courses: | 6.00 | |
| Contemporary Moral Problems | ||
| Race and Ethnicity | ||
| Social Psychology | ||
| Crisis Intervention | ||
| U.S. State and Local Government | ||
| Introduction to Addiction and Recovery | ||
| Psychopharmacology | ||
| Psychological Disorders | ||
| Power and Resistance | ||
| Theories of Justice | ||
| Memory and Cognition | ||
| Total Hours | 57.00-58.00 | |
- 1
Courses available to be paired with Capstone Presentation include CJUS 463 Delinquency and Juvenile Justice, CJUS 491 Applied Criminal Justice or CJUS 492 Criminal Justice Policy Issues and Reform with advisor consent.
- 2
With advisor's approval, other courses not listed below can be substituted and count as part of the 15 credits.