Criminal Justice

Program Mission & Learning Objectives

The Saint Peter’s University Criminal Justice degree program mission is to develop professionals with specialty knowledge as well as contemporary academic skills who are able to enter a diverse workforce in a multi-cultural service-dominated governmental agency or advance on to graduate level education.

The program will serve the criminal justice education needs of our state’s residents, employers, workers and leaders from around the world who value the mission of the University.

Goal A

To provide quality instruction in undergraduate and graduate level criminal justice studies reflective of the broad range of sociological and procedural subject found within this discipline.

Departmental Objectives
  1. Offer students major courses for a B.A. in Criminal Justice
  2. Offer students concentration in corrections, police administration, investigative sciences, criminal research and intelligence analysis, and computer science and crime forensics.
  3. Offer criminal justice courses as free electives.
  4. Recognize student achievement through induction into Alpha Phi Sigma – the national honor society in criminal justice.
  5. Conduct semi-annual meetings with adjunct Criminal Justice faculty and representatives from allied disciplines within the university to ensure current trends and issues within the field are being addressed throughout the curriculum in this interdisciplinary major.

GOAL B

To ensure that students completing the Criminal Justice major or minor degree requirements are able to demonstrate mastery of predominant theories and research methods found within the discipline.

Student Objectives
  1. Demonstrate competency in Criminology and Criminal Justice Research Techniques.
  2. Demonstrate competency in statistical functions within the Microsoft Excel application (e.g. Pearson, t-test, Anova, etc.)
  3. Demonstrate familiarity with advanced data visualization software applications such as Analyst’s Notebook, Clementine, and NetMap.
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of qualitative research techniques such as content analysis, grounded induction, interviewing and historical analysis.
  5. Demonstrate the proper employment of the traditional five-part research report format and the use of American Psychological Association (APA) citation format.

GOAL C

To prepare students for graduate-level studies in criminal justice or professions in which criminal logical/legal understanding is a prerequisite.

Student Objectives
  1. Demonstrate competency in courses required for graduate study or employment in law enforcement and investigative positions.
  2. Successfully complete the capstone course in Criminal Justice or the ETS Major Field Test in Criminal Justice.
  3. Demonstrate critical thinking.
  4. Demonstrate clear and effective writing and public speaking.
  5. Participate in one or more occupationally based organizations such as the American Correctional Association, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), or American Society of Criminology (ASC).
  6. Participate in the Stephen D. Doyle Criminal Justice Symposium on an annual basis thus allowing students to make connections between their academic studies and events occurring in the world around them.

    GOAL D

    To ensure that students successfully completing the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Saint Peter’s College are truly men and women for others, worthy of trust confidence.

    Student Objectives
    1. Successfully complete a values course.
    2. Demonstrate an understanding of ethics related courses such as Corruption, Police Administration, Fundamentals of Criminal Law, Criminal Justice Ethics, and Effective Leadership for Criminal Justice Practitioners.
    3. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of social justice.
    4. Demonstrate an understanding of applied criminal justice through an internship, cooperative education, field experience, or service-learning project with a public safety agency or other social support setting.

    GOAL E

    To ensure that students completing the Criminal Justice major or minor degree requirements are able to demonstrate mastery of specialty knowledge in criminal law, police, corrections, or law enforcement, forensics and criminology.

    Student Objectives
    1. Two separate intern experiences working in the students’ choice of work sites.
    2. Internships include a paper on the experience and the evaluation by field instructors.

    GOAL F

    To ensure that students acquire the following skills necessary to serve in modern society; I) the ability to find ethical solutions to complex problems, II) the ability to integrate information technology, and III) understanding, appreciation, and sensitivity when working in a diverse multicultural workforce, and serving a diverse multicultural community.

    Student Objectives
    1. Students are expected to conduct independent research and present the research based papers at a public forum.
    2. Students will also write about their personal reactions to the outcomes of their research.