Major
Meet Your Major: Criminology and Criminal Justice
As a criminology major, you’ll study the causes, patterns and control of crime and criminal behavior in individuals, groups, organizations, cultures and societies. You’ll explore lawmaking, lawbreaking and their social consequences, and learn how to reduce crime and improve criminal-justice policies.
What You’ll Learn
In the criminology and criminal justice program, you will:
- Deepen your understanding of the complex relationship between society and its members.
- Focus on the degree to which people’s lives are influenced by sociocultural, political-economic and historical forces.
- Cultivate critical thinking and informed analysis about the legal system, crime and systems of punishment and social control.
- Examine how inequalities of race, class, gender, age and sexuality are intertwined with systems of control and punishment.
- Learn the theoretical perspectives and research methods criminologists use to systematically study the multifaceted aspects of crime.
Hands-on Learning
In our required semester-long internship program, you’ll learn to apply criminological reasoning through supervised fieldwork experiences at agencies like the U.S. Probation Office, Essex County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Children and Families. Bonus? Not only will you get to test-drive your career options and learn from professionals in the field, you’ll gain a better understanding of your postgraduate education options and build a network for potential full-time employment after graduation.
Career Options
Upon successful completion of the criminology program, you’ll be well-equipped to pursue a career in criminology or a related professional field such as law, criminal justice, conflict resolution or social work. Positions may include:
- Correctional officer
- Criminal profiler
- Crime-victim specialist
- Federal special agent
- Forensic-science technician
- Forensic psychologist
- Fire investigator
- Probation officer
- Security specialist
What You’ll Take
All criminology and criminal justice majors take a combination of required and elective courses to satisfy the 40-credit and minimum-of-10-course requirement. To graduate with a degree in criminology, you must maintain a GAP of at least 2.0 in your selected criminology courses.
Courses in the School of Education and Social Policy are scheduled to account for instructional time that is commensurate with credits earned.
Required courses
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CRM 1000 |
Introduction to Criminology (required before entering criminology-degree program) |
|
CRM 3000 |
Society and Law |
|
CRM 4000 |
Research Methods in Criminology |
|
CRM 4500 |
Statistics in Criminology |
|
CRM 4800 |
Criminology Internship |
Elective Courses
Select five electives from the following criminology and criminal justice courses.
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CRM 1200 |
Inequality and Justice in Life and Literature |
|
CRM 1500 |
Rural Crime |
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CRM 2000 |
Youth, Deviance and Crime |
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CRM 2200 |
Corporate and White-Collar Crime |
|
CRM 2300 |
Hate Crimes |
|
CRM 2500 |
The Death Penalty |
|
CRM 2600 |
Policy and Prevention in the Public Sphere |
|
CRM 2700 |
Ethics and Criminal (In)Justice |
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CRM 2800 |
Search and Seizure |
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CRM 2900 |
Police Culture |
|
CRM 3050(W) |
Female Deviance, Crime and Social Control |
|
CRM 3380(W) |
Race, Class and Crime |
|
CRM 3430 |
Criminal Justice and Mental Health |
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CRM 3500 |
Domestic Violence |
|
CRM 3600(W) |
Drugs and Society |
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CRM 3700 |
Forensic Criminal Investigation |
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CRM 3900 |
Incarceration |
|
CRM 4900 |
Directed Study |
|
CRM 4910 |
Directed Study |
|
CRM 5001 |
Advanced Topics in Criminology |
|
CRM 5002 |
Forensic Behavioral Analysis |
|
CRM 5010 |
Police, Courts and Corrections |
|
CRM 5020 |
Public Policy, Crime and Criminal Justice |
Cognate Electives
Choose a maximum two criminology and criminal justice electives from the following list of cognate courses. Cognates are courses related to the field of criminology and criminal justice, but offered outside of the department of criminology and criminal justice.
|
EDU 2130 |
Diversity, Social Justice and Ethics |
|
PHL 2500 |
Theories of Justice |
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PHL 3010 |
Human Rights: Theory and Practice |
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PHL 3020 |
Philosophy of Law |
|
PHL 3030 |
Global Justice |
|
POL 3112 |
Congress and the Legislative Process |
|
POL 3150 |
Criminal Law |
|
POL 3151 |
American Constitutional Law |
|
POL 3152 |
Civil Liberties and Civil Rights |
|
PSY 3340 |
Developmental Psychopathology |
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PSY 3410 |
Adult Psychopathology |
|
SOC 2050 |
Social Work |
|
SOJ 1000 |
Introduction to Social Justice (Theory and Practice) |
|
WGS 3710 |
Gender and the Law |
|
WGS 3720 |
Gender, Immigration and the Law |
More Info
Jacqueline Gillette
Administrative Assistant
Austin 203
978-837-5165
gillettej@merrimack.edu