Criminal Justice Concentration
Overview
What do you think of when you think about criminal justice programs in Chicago? Righting all the wrongs in the system … fighting crime … seeking justice – the truth is, it’s all that and more. Let East-West University’s BHS program with a criminal justice concentration prepare you for a life of service and significance for your community and society in one of our fields of Criminal Justice.
Like many institutions with accredited criminal justice courses, our bachelor’s degree program will guide you through a strong general education core … a focused criminal justice concentration … and relevant electives to meet your specific educational – and career – goals.
Program Objectives
The program is designed to:
- Prepare you for professional services in the area of criminal justice in a variety of settings
- Offer the education foundation necessary to continue life-long professional development
- Foster commitment toward a local, regional, and global humane service- oriented perspective and dedication to professional values in the area of criminal justice
- Help you develop within the criminal justice profession and in its responses to the changing needs of the society
At the completion of this program, you’ll be able to:
- Apply theoretical and empirical knowledge from the liberal arts, the sciences, and criminal justice to provide professional services in many areas of criminal justice.
- Pursue further studies in a graduate- level program for Criminal Justice or closely related fields
- Employ relevant best practices to protect the growth and wellbeing of contemporary society
- Promote equity and equality as they relate to criminal justice
- Improve services to disadvantaged communities in the area of criminal justice
- Internalize criminal justice best practices on personal and professional values which incorporate a humane, service-oriented perspective
- Accept responsibility and accountability for professional and personal development.
Why a Concentration in Criminal Justice from East-West University?
In line with our mission, this concentration is designed to help you improve your life and make the world a better place. To that end, a post-secondary education is often valued, if not required, to open the door to opportunities in a number of life-changing career fields. This program can help you prepare for a relevant and fulfilling career in the field of criminal justice.
The Criminal Justice Curriculum
- Includes both liberal and professional instruction to prepare graduates for life in general and a career in high demand.
- Its geographic and demographic location is situated in the center of an urban area with a population of over 9 million people; it has the opportunity to make use of the urban and suburban infrastructure and resources. Other resources include nursing related industries, agencies, and organizations, a job market within convenient commuting distance, health and health-related facilities, as well as the entire range of “rest and recreation” opportunities.
- Demographically, there is hardly a place with a greater and more balanced multicultural mix, with greater ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, and with a broader range of exceptionalities. It is situated in one of the major diverse and multicultural urban areas of the world which presents an ideal “laboratory” for first- hand experience/observation of an extended variety of crimes and issues with which criminal justice is concerned at the present time.
- Offers education in a career that is geared to the service economy. Few professions touch the lives of so many, individuals, families, communities, the society at large, in so many different ways and are proactive, preventative, and reactive, restorative.
- Offers practical experience in agencies and organizations directly or substantively related to aspects of criminal justice within the metropolitan Chicago area that are state of the art and enjoy educational opportunities that include the most modern advances.
- The number of potential professionals in areas of criminal justice is projected to increase moderately, according to U.S. Department of Labor information and by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).
- Substantial opportunities for personal contact and interaction with multi- cultural populations will be an ongoing part of the student’s practical experiences.
- Agencies and organizations of criminal justice have assumed increased responsibilities in recent years. The need for highly educated criminal justice professionals continues to grow. Students have the option to pursue specialized professional programs in the areas, for instance, of law, law enforcement, aspects of social service, and governmental agencies.
Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Behavioral Sciences - Criminal Justice Concentration
The program embodies three broad blocks of curricular requirements or components:
I: General Education Core (64 Credit Hours)
II: BHS Core and Concentration Courses (80 Credit Hours)
III: Elective Courses (36 Credit Hours)
I: General Education Core courses
- 5 specified courses in English and Communications for a total of 20 quarter hours
- 1 specified mathematics course, one biology course, and 12 additional hours from biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics for a total of 20 hours
- 1 specified humanities course and 16 additional quarter hours selected from behavioral and social sciences and humanities for a total of 20 hours
- 1 specified course from computer and information science for a total of 4 hours.
II: BHS Core and selected Criminal Justice concentration area courses
- 12 specified BHS core courses, and an additional 32 hours BHS elective courses for a total of 80 hours
III: Elective Courses
- 36 quarter hours from freely selected courses
Degree Requirements
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Biological Sciences Total Course Requirement: 180 credit hours
General Education Core Courses
(64 credit hours)
Behavioral Sciences Major Courses
(60 credit hours)
Free Electives
(56 credit hours)
Suggested areas of focused interest in the BHS program, with a recommended sequence of courses, include:
Criminal Justice
| CJ201 | Introduction to the Criminal Justice |
| CJ202 | Administration of the Criminal Justice |
| CJ203 | Administration of the Juvenile Justice |
| CJ220 | Criminal Law and Procedure |
| CJ230 | Introduction to Investigation |
| CJ240 | Police Organization and Management |
| CJ250 | Professional Responsibility in Criminal Justice |
| CJ260 | Constitutional Law |
| CJ270 | Crisis Intervention and Deviant Behavior |
| CJ276 | Criminal Profiling |
Students who opt not to select one of these focused areas of interest must still complete the general education requirements (64 quarter hours), the BHS major courses (60 quarter hours); and additional 56 quarter hours for a total of 180 credit hours.
Curricular Requirements
Curricular requirements must comply with all general academic requirements for a bachelor’s degree, including:
- Completion of 180 quarter hours
- Residency requirement of 48 quarter hours
- Completion of HM 279 (East-West University Signature course)
- Completion of HM 491 (Senior Seminar)
- An overall GPA of 2.0 and 2.5 GPA in the major
- Compliance with Satisfactory Academic Progress policy pertaining to both Grade Maintenance and Timely Completion
- All outcome measures required by the assessment program must be passed successfully
- All financial obligations must be cleared