Corrections Minor

The Corrections minor prepares students for careers in criminal justice or social services with a special emphasis on addressing the needs of persons convicted of crimes, crime victims, and at-risk populations. Through both academic work and experiential learning, students acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience to work with correctional clients in a variety of settings. Corrections minors are often used to strengthen degrees in psychology, sociology, alcohol and drug studies, and other fields in the social sciences and humanities. 

Program Requirements

Core

Examines the making of criminal law, the evolution of policing, the adjudication of persons accused of criminal law violations, and the punishment of adult offenders.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-09

Diverse Cultures: Purple

This course requires students to complete 50 hours of volunteering at a community agency to gain experience and learn how the agency and its staff perform their objectives. The course also requires students to practice their writing skills in assignments designed for reflection on personal strengths and interests, career pursuits, and résumé writing. Class discussions emphasize professional development, ethics, and various issues relevant to criminal justice and corrections. Corrections majors should take this course as early as possible.

Prerequisites: none

A critical consideration of definitions of juvenile delinquency, emphasis on micro and macro level of struggle in which delinquent behavior takes place, critique of current theories on delinquency, and the juvenile justice response to delinquency from a criminal justice lens.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-09

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Advanced Crime Theory & Prevention provides an overview of the nature and causes of crime and victimization. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the course surveys theories of criminal behavior at the macro- & micro-level. Students will learn how to evaluate criminological theories. The course also covers the link between theory and crime prevention efforts, focusing primarily on how crime prevention efforts employed by legislatures, police, courts, and corrections agencies in the United States are derived from theory.

Prerequisites: none

Restricted Electives

Choose 12 Credit(s).

Prerequisites: none