Curriculum for Criminology & Criminal Justice Major

Our Criminology & Criminal Justice curriculum focuses on restorative and social justice, with flexibility that can take you into a variety of careers.

Criminology & Criminal Justice Curriculum

Our Criminology & Criminal Justice curriculum is built with the future of the field in mind. Its focus is on developing the skills you’ll need to enter the field or graduate school upon graduation, a deep understanding of restorative and social justice, and the analytical skills you’ll need to examine systemic challenges and effect real change. The flexibility of the curriculum can take you into a variety of careers.

With our Upside-Down Curriculum, you’ll take classes in your first semester that allow you to quickly get up to speed with current technologies and topics in the field—and stay current through graduation.

Many of the courses in our Criminology & Criminal Justice major are program electives, allowing you to focus your studies in a specialized area or explore a variety of vocations in the field. Additionally, many students use their general electives to study a minor, the most popular being Social Work, Law, Psychology, and Digital Forensics.

In the final semester of your senior year, you also have the option to pursue Vermont Police Academy enforcement training. Speak with your advisor when planning your courses to learn more.

Learning Outcomes for Criminology & Criminal Justice

First Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
- CRJ 121 Criminal Procedure
- CRJ 250 Introduction to Criminology
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- COR 103 Navigating Your Information Landscape
- COR 104 First Year Inquiry: Making, Doing, &
Second Year
Fall Semester
- MTH 115 Mathematics for Problem-Solving and Decision-Making —OR— MTH 180 Statistics, Introduction to
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- XXX General Elective
- COR 201 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Science
- COR 202 Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Spring Semester
- EHS 210 Social Justice Intensive
- FOR 100 Introduction to Cybercrime & Digital Forensics
- SWK 250 Introduction to Antiracist Practice
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- COR 203 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Culture
- COR 204 Theoretical Perspectives
Third Year
Fall Semester
- SWK 305 Social Justice: Oppression and Empowerment
- WRT 231 Writing for the Workplace
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- CRJ 450 Seminar in Criminal Justice Reform AND General Elective —OR— CRJ 490 Criminal Justice Field Experience
- XXX General Elective
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- CRJ 450 Seminar in Criminal Justice Reform AND General Elective —OR— CRJ 490 Criminal Justice Field Experience
- SCI 170 Forensic Science, Introduction to
- XXX General Elective
Spring Semester
- CCC 410CRJ College Capstone: Criminal Justice
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- XXX Criminal Justice Elective
- XXX General elective

Students gain insight into the criminal legal system's response to crime in society by examining the structure and function of the system and its components, including criminal law, police, courts, and corrections. Students will also probe the system's historical and social context; its interaction with other social systems; and conflicts between crime control and due process, race, gender, class, and ethnicity.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Provides a comprehensive analysis of the fundamentals of substantive criminal law. Students will learn the essential elements of crimes and the rationale underlying criminal law. The nature of jurisdiction, the criminal act, the criminal state of mind and matters affecting responsibility for criminal conduct are included. (Fall only)

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a foundational understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to begin to make connections among the various elements of the Champlain College student-experiences and competencies. Students will take part in a real-world community awareness or service experience as a class and then examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, and psychology.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course focuses on the rules and procedures governing how the American criminal justice system must process individuals suspected, accused, and convicted of law violations. (Spring only)

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course is an introduction to the study of the crime from a sociological perspective. Students will examine the ways in which crime is defined and measured, and through application of criminological theory to high-profile crimes, explore its nature, causes, patterns, and trends. Students will examine the role of the criminal justice system within U.S. society and evaluate the ways in which it succeeds and fails in achieving its goals.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

Utilizing an application-driven approach, students will learn and practice mathematical thinking and concepts through discussing, exploring and resolving current topics. Students will explore how mathematical skills can be utilized throughout both their personal and professional lives to better understand and possibly solve issues that surround them and that impact the world around them. Students will see a variety of topics including math for personal finance and an introduction to probability and statistics.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Teaches a statistical approach to decision making under uncertainty. Topics are descriptive statistics, probability distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students will meet together in an interdisciplinary, seminar-style setting to build a greater understanding of integrative thinking and learning and to add a focus within a social justice context. Students will participate in an off-campus service learning project and critically examine the experience from the perspectives of social work, criminal justice, the law, environmental policy, education, psychology, and additionally consider their experiences in Core, and LEAD.

Prerequisites	EHS 100 is a prerequisite for EHS 210, except for the following circumstances: 1) Student taking EHS 210 is a non-EHS student. OR 2) Student taking EHS 210 is a transfer student who came in as a sophomore or junior.
Credits	1

Students in this course will be presented concepts from white collar and cyber crime arena. The topics may include identify theft, fraud, cyber terrorism, hacking, cyber bullying, child pornography and sexual exploitation, testimony, civil and criminal litigation. Students will learn best practices with hands-on experience in identifying and preserving digital evidence.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

This course prepares students to engage in anti-racist professional practice across multiple settings. Students are introduced to the fundamentals of anti-racist theory, concepts, and practice. This course also examines the manifestations of systemic oppression, white supremacy, and anti-black racism in American culture. Moving from conceptualization to practice throughout the course, students learn to engage in anti-racist practice through direct action.

Prerequisites	Complete 25 credits.
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Students explore the origins and dynamics of discrimination and prejudice against certain racial, ethnic, age, and sexual orientation groups in American society and how power, influence, economic status and social policy contribute to and reinforce oppression against such groups. Such information will form the basis for understanding one's own values, attitudes and beliefs about others. The course will also explore our changing population and celebrate the contributions and uniqueness that diversity brings to American social order.

Prerequisites	Complete 45 credits before taking this course.
Credits	3

This course introduces students to the fundamental elements of professional writing (clear, concise, and targeted) that are common among seven forms of workplace?communication: email correspondence, cover letters, resumes, proposals, long formal reports, oral communication, and team projects. Through peer reviews and writing workshops, students develop the ability to write and edit text that precisely targets its audience. This course emphasizes deepening and broadening students' writing, speaking, and thinking abilities in a non-lecture-based, hands-on discussion-centered classroom.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Concern about racial injustice, excessive force, and inadequate training and accountability within law enforcement have created consensus about the need for change throughout the U.S. criminal and juvenile justice systems, but the nature and extent of that required change remains a question. In this seminar, students will (1) analyze reform efforts currently under way to reshape law enforcement, prosecution and defense practices, sentencing, incarceration, and re-integration; (2) analyze the strengths and weaknesses of current reform efforts, and identify and examine areas requiring reform that remain unaddressed; (3) consider how reform agendas are created, and how they result in changes that produce both positive and harmful consequences; and (4) examine the ways in which advocacy, social movements, law and media can be successfully engaged in order to effect change.

Prerequisites	Take 60 credits
Credits	3

Requires twenty-four hours per week of field-work. Students will routinely be required to meet with a supervising faculty member on campus and at their internship site. Students, with the aid of a Criminal Justice faculty member, are allowed to select from any state, local, or federal criminal justice agency participating in this program. Students are expected to provide their own transportation.

Prerequisites	Must complete 90 credits before taking this course.
Credits	6

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Prerequisites	Take 60 credits
Credits	3

Prerequisites	Must complete 90 credits before taking this course.
Credits	6

Students learn the biology, genetics, chemistry and physics involved in the forensic investigation of crimes. A wide range of topics are studied including DNA, entomology, fingerprinting, trace evidence, serology, blood spatter, and chemical analysis of drugs alcohol, and other compounds. Students apply their new knowledge of forensic science through the use of case studies and laboratories. This course includes two laboratory hours per week.

Prerequisites
Credits	4

Students will pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their major. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320, and two sections of COR-330 All Game majors (EGPR.BS, GDES.BS, GART.BS must also complete EGD-320 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	3

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