Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice is the study of the federal, state, and local agencies that have been set up to deal with different aspects of crime and the treatment of offenders, including law enforcement, the courts, and corrections.

The employment outlook for Criminal Justice graduates is good and expected to grow. Employment prospects are anticipated in the areas of the courts, corrections, probation, forensic science/criminalistics and private security.

Criminal justice graduates enter the job market in investigative and regulatory positions. The employment outlook is good and expected to grow during the 21st century. Employment prospects are anticipated in the areas of the courts, corrections, probation, forensic science/criminalistics and private security. A college degree is essential for most entry-level positions in the field of criminal justice.

Planning for College

The University of Scranton encourages a strong college preparatory program in high school with a minimum of four years of English, three years of mathematics, social science and science, and at least two years of a foreign language with additional units taken in acceptable academic areas.

Criminal Justice at The University of Scranton

The criminal justice program at The University of Scranton prepares you:

• for a career in law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels. It provides you the academic foundation and preparation for advanced study in law, criminology, court administration, public administration and related fields.
• with an overview of the criminal justice field, including courses in Computer Science, Criminology, Penology, Juvenile Delinquency, Law and Society, the American Court System, Probation and Parole, Criminological Research, Forensic Science, Investigative Process, Sociology of Deviance, and Principles of Evidence, among others.
• for a career with specific federal agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Should you pursue a career path in one of the above agencies, learning a second language, preferably Spanish, is recommended. If you are planning a career with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), we recommend courses in finance and accounting.

As a criminal justice major, you will have an opportunity to get involved in the Faculty-Student Research Program, which allows you to work with faculty members on specific topics.

You can also earn up to six credits through an internship. These supervised learning activities are designed to broaden your educational experiences through practical application and work assignments. Throughout the years, students have done internships at the district attorney's office, court administrator's office, state police and municipal police agencies, private security, drug and rehabilitation agencies, U.S. Marshal Service, U.S. Secret Service, prisons, and family court.

Outcomes

Many University of Scranton criminal justice graduates have gone on to work at the following:

• Drug Enforcement Administration
• New York City Police Department
• St. Louis (MO) Police Department
• Fairfax County (VA) Police Department
• Scranton Police Department
• Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation
• Lackawanna County (PA) Juvenile Probation Office
• Sheriff's Department of Los Angeles County
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Camp Hill (PA) Correctional Institution
• Chase Manhattan Bank
• Delaware Department of Corrections
• U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
• Montgomery County Youth Center
• U.S. Secret Service
• Federal Bureau of Investigation

Law school attendees from Soc/CJ/Gerontology Department:

• Catholic University (Hon. Russ Shurtleff)
• Thomas Cooley (John Lally, Frank Martens, Christina Novajoski)
• University of Dayton (Richard Fanucci)
• Dickinson [Penn State] (Catherine Karam, Leslie Swiatek -Navy JAG)
• Georgetown (Hon. Ken Lindenfelser)
• New York Law School (Ann Marie Lutz)
• Ohio Northern (Dave Skutnik)
• Oklahoma City University (Colleen Farrell Foulkes)
• Rutgers, Camden (Donna Verchio -Air Force JAG)
• Rutgers, Newark (Sue degliAntoni Corrado)
• University of Saint Louis (Mark Mazzei)
• Saint John's (Christopher Arnone)
• Seton Hall (Diana Bellisario, Jacqueline O'Donnell)
• William and Mary (Patrick Connolly)
• Villanova (Shalissa Dougherty)
• Baltimore (Jennifer Toth)

Faculty Publications

Faculty teaching in the Criminal Justice/Soc. Deparment have published EIGHT books since 2002 in topics including criminal analysis, white collar crime, and international criminal justice, and research methods.

Collaborations with other Departments for minors or concentrations include: Forensic chemistry, accounting, and nursing.

Finding Out More

For more information about Criminal Justice at The University of Scranton, please visit our website at http://www.academic.scranton.edu/department/scj. You can write to us at Department of Sociology/Criminal Justice, The University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510-4605, or by calling (570) 941-6170.