Criminal Justice

Overview

Saint Joseph’s University's criminal justice degree program will help cultivate a sense of honesty, fairness and integrity and prepare you for a productive and rewarding career dedicated to helping others. As a criminal justice major at Saint Joseph's University, you will explore an interdisciplinary perspective on crime and justice.

What is a Criminal Justice Degree?

Through your coursework, you'll cover historical and current social issues related to drugs and alcohol, gender, race and mental health. The emphasis on theory, qualitative and quantitative research coupled with data analysis training will help you develop practical skills that are indispensable in finding a rewarding career. A criminal justice degree will also help you understand the causes of crime and how society responds to it.

Criminal justice faculty at Saint Joseph’s University provide diverse courses through their active engagement in research and practice in Philadelphia’s criminal justice system.

Ways to Study Criminal Justice

You can pursue a major in criminal justice or a criminal justice minor if you are majoring in another discipline.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Criminal Justice?

Saint Joseph's University's criminal justice graduates have secured jobs in a wide range of career paths, including:

Law enforcement
Corrections
Probation
Courts and law
Social services
Marketing and analytics
Counseling
Administrative
Private security
Paralegal
Nonprofits

The major’s curriculum is intended to facilitate entry into graduate programs in criminal justice, sociology and law while retaining a humanistic understanding of the study of crime and victim advocacy. The criminal justice major at Saint Joseph’s is distinguished by its emphasis on independent research projects and student-faculty interaction.

How will Saint Joseph’s University Prepare You for a Career in Criminal Justice?

Our location in Philadelphia and presence in the tri-state region offers students endless opportunities for internships and fulfilling careers in criminal justice. Internships are available in a wide range of sites in close proximity to Saint Joseph's University's campus including:

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office
The Federal Public Defender’s Office in Camden, N.J.
The New Jersey State Police
The Victim Witness Services and Special Victims Unit

Continue Your Education in Criminal Justice

Saint Joseph's offers an M.S. in Criminal Justice to students looking to develop their skills and advance their careers in the law enforcement. For students looking for an exciting and challenging curriculum of study, Criminal Justice majors can enroll in our 4+1 Criminal Justice B.S/M.S. program during their study.

The program has been at the forefront of education in intelligence-led policing and criminal justice administration. Our program allows you to create a unique plan of graduate study that is compatible with your interests and career objectives in both the public and private sectors.

Course Catalog Information

Sociology

The Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Saint Joseph’s University provides students with opportunities to analyze and assess human behavior and its impact on society. The sociology department is comprised of expert teachers and active researchers working to understand society and make positive, practical applications of their findings. Sociology majors go on to work in government, law, public service, criminology, research and nonprofit organizations.

Economics

Economics majors at Saint Joseph’s University will study how economic reasoning is used to determine how society can effectively meet its human and material needs. By analyzing buyer and seller behavior in various markets, students will be able to think like an economist and how they view the world in terms of problem solving and decision making.

Political Science

The political science major at Saint Joseph’s University offers the opportunity to examine politics, government and the political process. This program is ideal for those interested in the study of power, behavior, compromise and relationships between political figures in a variety of different contexts.