Mar 29, 2024  
Undergraduate Catalog | 2015-2016 
    
Undergraduate Catalog | 2015-2016 Previous Edition

Criminal Justice, B.A.


Undergraduate students pursuing the academic study of the criminal justice system, a career in the criminal justice field, or preparation for graduate study may select the criminal justice curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. 

Additional Admission Requirements


Current UNC Charlotte students interested in declaring a Major in Criminal Justice need to attend a Declaration of Major Meeting (see department website for specific dates).  Completion of CJUS 1100  and STAT 1222 , with a C or above in both courses, and a GPA of 2.0 or higher are required to become a major.  Applicants must also successfully complete a writing component requirement which is offered several times throughout the year (see department website for specific dates).  Criminal Justice majors must declare an approved minor or second major to graduate with a Criminal Justice degree.

Students may enroll in the B.A. program on either a full-time or part-time basis.  Evening classes are scheduled to accommodate part-time students.  All students must take and pass an upper-level foreign language conversation course.

Transfer students from a North Carolina community college must complete 37 credit hours of criminal justice coursework unless they have completed the equivalents of STAT 1222  (or STAT 1220  or STAT 1221 ), LACS 2201 , CJUS 1100 , CJUS 2000 , CJUS 2102 , CJUS 2120 , or CJUS 2154  at another institution.  Transfer courses from other institutions will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.  Transfer credit will only be awarded for courses completed with a grade of C of above.  Transfer students who have an A.A.S. degree in Criminal Justice will receive General Education exemption and may be awarded up to 15 credit hours of credit for criminal justice coursework completed with a grade of C or above.  However, students are required to complete an additional 16 credit hours of upper-level criminal justice coursework at UNC Charlotte after an evaluation of the transcript. 

Degree Requirements


A Major in Criminal Justice requires an introductory statistics course and 31 credit hours of criminal justice courses.

General Education Courses (37-43 credit hours)


For details on required courses, refer to the General Education program 

Foreign Language Course (3 credit hours)


Criminal Justice majors must satisfy the foreign language requirement by completing a 2201 level foreign language course  with a C or above (or a course with emphasis on conversation) in a modern language other than English that uses the Latin alphabet (e.g., French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) OR the 1202 course (or the equivalent) in a modern language that does not use the Latin alphabet (e.g., Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Russian).  Approved American Sign Language courses may be substituted with permission of the department prior to enrolling in such courses.

Area Courses (9 credit hours)


Select one course from each of the following areas:

Unrestricted Elective Courses


As needed.

Degree Total = 120 Credit Hours


Grade Requirements


A minimum of a C average in all criminal justice coursework and at least a grade of C in CJUS 1100 , CJUS 3100 , CJUS 3101  (or SOCY 4155 /SOCY 4155L , POLS 2220 , or PSYC 2101 /PSYC 2103 ); LACS 2201 ; and STAT 1222  (or STAT 1220  or STAT 1221 ) are required.

Honors Program


For details about the Honors Program in Criminal Justice, visit the program page .

Internship


While not required, students are encouraged to participate in internship programs available through the department. Internships provide opportunities to combine theory and practice in a realistic setting, and to make more judicious career decisions.

Suggested Curriculum


For a suggested curriculum progression toward completing the major, please see the Academic Plan of Study available online at academics.uncc.edu.