Criminal Justice Careers

What can a person do with a B.S. or B.A. degree in criminal justice from Lincoln University? Just about anything. The career choices for criminal justice majors are diverse and can include work in local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, the court system, correctional institutions, probation, and parole agencies. These traditional employment possibilities are being greatly expanded with opportunities in private sector.

Majoring in criminal justice also provides excellent preparation for students interested in pursuing graduate work in the fields of law, public and criminal justice system administration, political science and social work.

Criminal Justice majors may elect to pursue either a Bachelor of Arts degree, which is recommended for students considering postgraduate, professional or academic study, or a Bachelor of Science degree, which is generally career-oriented. The four-year program combines the technical, theoretical, and social science aspects of the criminal justice system with a broad liberal arts education.

The criminal justice major is designed to provide students with substantial knowledge of how the criminal justice system works on the local, state, and federal level; an understanding of the changing nature of interactions between criminal justice institutions and the people in these environments; and an awareness of the impact of different social forces on the types and rates of criminal conduct.

Criminal Justice major offers program concentrations in three areas, Law Enforcement, Legal Studies and Forensic Science. The Department offers options combining coursework in Criminal Justice with Biology, Business, English, Philosophy, Political Science, and Chemistry for the Forensic Science minor.

The Law Enforcement emphasis focuses on criminal law and law enforcement and require students to complete the Criminal Justice major course work.

The Legal Studies emphasis requires Criminal Justice students to complete the Pre-Law Certification courses along with the Criminal Justice major course work.

The Forensic Science emphasis prepares students to meet the growth in careers that relate to criminal investigation and evidence analysis. Students will be required to complete Criminal Justice major course work along with additional courses in the science departments.

All options will take Critical Reasoning, Legal Analysis, and Race and American Law along with other courses in the Criminal Justice core.