Criminal Justice Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of their program curricula, students who complete a major in criminal justice will have competency in the following areas:

• Disciplinary Knowledge: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the main elements of the criminal justice system. 
  • Objectives: Students will competently communicate their knowledge of the nature of crime and its causes, criminal laws and individual rights, law enforcement systems and practices, the processes of courts in adjudication and sentencing, institutional and community corrections, and contemporary ethical challenges in the criminal justice system.
• Critical Thinking: Students will interpret complex information to produce informed conclusions about the criminal justice system.
  • Objectives: Students will use historical and current theories and a variety of data, statistics, and critical thinking techniques to analyze institutions, policies, practices, and emerging trends in criminal justice.
• Ethical Awareness: Students will cultivate their ethical reasoning and awareness in preparation for their chosen professions.
  • Objectives: Students will ethically evaluate institutions, policies, practices, and emerging trends across criminal justice professions; students will practice identifying and responding to professional ethical challenges.
• Diversity: Students will engage with diverse and inclusive perspectives on the criminal justice system.
  • Objectives: Students will incorporate the experiences of women, minorities, and other marginalized communities into their analyses of criminal justice institutions, policies, practices, and emerging trends.
• Experiential Learning: Students will apply their knowledge and skills in real-world contexts.
  • Objectives: Students will interact with professionals in various CJ fields; visit CJ job sites; complete internships; and/or perform experiential-learning activities. 
• Criminal justice majors will demonstrate learning outcomes in CJ 310 Transforming Communities by completing a poster presentation on Student Research Day and writing a brief essay self-assessing learning in the major.
  • The poster project will reflect a substantive engagement with a topic within criminal justice. It should be informed by primary and/or secondary research.