Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Criminology
Degree requirements:
The B.A. degree requires a total of 36 credit hours in addition to the general education requirements for a degree in The College of Arts and Sciences. For detailed CJC undergraduate course descriptions, click here.
Required courses:
CJC 101 Introduction to Criminal Justice; 3 hours
CJC 319 Theoretical Criminology; 3 hours
CJC 363* Introduction to Statistics in Sociology and Criminal Justice; 3 hours
CJC 483 Methods of Sociological Research; 3 hours
-or-
CJC 486 Methods of Program Evaluation; 3 hours
CJC 470WI** Capstone: Criminal Justice and Criminology; 3 hours
*Math 235 is not a substitute for CJC 363
**Students are expected to take CJC 470WI after they finish all other CJC courses. CJC 470WI is open only to CJC majors in their last semester of coursework.
Two of the following are also required:
CJC 265 Delinquency and Juvenile Justice; 3 hours
CJC 250 Introduction to Policing; 3 hours
CJC 260 Principles and Practices of Criminal Courts; 3 hours
CJC 270 Principles of Corrections; 3 hours
Students should receive a grade of no lower than C- in the core required courses:
CJC 101
CJC 319
CJC 363
CJC 483
CJC 470WI
and an overall GPA of 2.0 in the major.
It is suggested that students broaden their course choices by selecting related offerings in English (especially those courses that stress writing skills), philosophy, history, geography, political science, psychology, sociology and public administration.
Transfer students may be credited with a maximum of 15 CJC credit hours (the introductory course plus 12 hours of electives) from other institutions.
Students with more than one academic major may apply only 3 credit hours (usually the required research methods course) from another degree program toward the CJC major.
Course restrictions
In selecting courses to fulfill the 15 credit hours of CJC electives, CJC majors and minors should be aware of the following restrictions:
- No more than 6 credit hours of Directed Studies, CJC 490, may be used to fulfill CJC elective requirements.
- Participation in only one internship, CJC 491, may be used to fulfill CJC elective requirements.
No more than 3 credit hours of Topics in Criminal Justice and Criminology, CJC 492, may be used to fulfill CJC elective requirements. - Students who are pursuing the CJC major or minor are strongly encouraged to meet with their adviser each semester to review their progress toward degree completion, as well as to determine the appropriateness of coursework selected.
Undergraduate minor
Undergraduate students can obtain a Criminal Justice and Criminology minor.
Requirements
- A minimum of 18 credit hours is required, including the introductory courses CJC 101
and CJC 483. - At least 9 of the 18 credit hours must be in courses at the 300 or 400 levels, in addition to at least 9 credit hours taken from UMKC.
- Only 3 credit hours from the major field of study may be applied toward the minor.