Criminal Justice: Associate in Specialized Technology Degree
Plymouth Meeting, PA Campus

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Objectives

This program teaches fundamentals of the criminal justice system and criminal justice skills. The program offers a foundation in criminal law, legal procedures, criminal evidence and criminology. Areas of study include law enforcement, the courts and corrections. Students are taught about the legal system and law enforcement standards to help them develop technical skills used in today's criminal justice environment. The curriculum is designed to offer a balance of theory and application used in the field by integrating interpersonal skills and criminal justice subject matter. The program examines the criminal justice process in the United States and involves the study of interpersonal communication skills. Program content includes communication, criminology, courts, correctional programs, criminal investigations, security and policing.

Career Opportunities

The program can help graduates prepare for careers in community corrections, the private investigation and security fields and law enforcement*. Upon completion of the program, graduates will have developed knowledge and skills that can be used to pursue entry-level positions involving a broad spectrum of criminal justice careers in the private sector involving workplace security, private investigations, and insurance investigations as private detectives, safety officers and security patrol officers. The program also offers the academic preparation to pursue entry-level positions involving criminal justice, such as local, state and federal law enforcement jobs in policing*, crime commissions, parole and probation, corrections and court systems.

*This program of study may not qualify a graduate for a career in law enforcement involving employment as a police officer or agent by federal, state, county, local or municipal authorities. An applicant must contact the applicable governmental authority prior to beginning the program at the school to determine if there are any specific requirements and/or qualifications that a candidate must satisfy to be eligible for employment as a police officer or agent by that authority. Those requirements and/or qualifications may include, among other things, that a candidate must: (a) successfully complete an academy or other specialized training; (b) be younger than a certain age; (c) pass a physical, mental and/or personality examination; (d) pass a background check; (e) not have a criminal record; (f) be a graduate from an institution that is regionally accredited (as opposed to nationally accredited, such as ITT Technical Institute); (g) complete a certain number of credit hours or a certain type of degree program at an accredited postsecondary educational institution; (h) have served a certain number of years in the military; (i) have a certain number of years of prior law enforcement experience; (j) be a U.S. citizen and/or a resident of the governmental authority's jurisdiction; (k) have earned a bachelor or graduate degree in certain areas of study; and/or (l) have a valid driver's license.

Admission Requirements

Refer to the Admission section of this catalog for information relating to Admission Requirements and Procedures for this program.

School Equipment

Students will have the opportunity to use the following school equipment as required throughout the program: computer systems, network hubs, patch panels, printers and other common computer peripherals. Refer to Student Equipment in the Online Course Information section of this catalog for information relating the student equipment requirements for the distance education courses that are taught online over the Internet.

Class Size

Classes generally range in size from 20 to 40 students. Depending on the course subject matter, certain classes may contain a greater or lesser number of students.

Program Outline

Course Number	Course	Credit Hours
Program Total		96
Core Courses Subtotal 56 CJ123P Criminal Law 4 CJ131P Introduction to Criminal Justice 4 CJ132P Criminal Justice Organization and Administration 4 CJ133P Criminology 4 CJ151P Principals of Policing and Law Enforcement 4 CJ152P Law Enforcement Reporting and Recording 4 CJ211P Correctional Programs: Probation and Parole 4 CJ241P Criminal Investigation 4 CJ242P Forensics and Crime Scene Investigation 4 CJ243P Introduction to the Criminalistics of Cybercrime 4 CJ253P Policing Techniques: Interviewing and Interrogation 4 CJ261P Essentials of Security 4 CJ264P Transportation Security 4 CJ299P Criminal Justice Capstone 4
General Education Courses Subtotal 28 GE117P Composition I+ 4 GE127P College Mathematics I+ 4 GE175P American Government+ 4 GE184P Problem Solving 4 GE217P Composition II+ 4 GE347P Group Dynamics+ 4 GE375P Psychology+ 4
Technical Basic Courses Subtotal 12 TB133P Strategies for the Technical Professional 4 TB143P Introduction to Personal Computers 4 TB332P Professional Procedures and Portfolio Development 4

+In this program, this course may be taught either completely in residence at the school, completely online over the Internet as a distance education course or partially in residence and partially online, as determined by the school from time to time in its discretion. Refer to the Online Course Information section of this catalog for additional information relating to these courses that the school decides to teach all or partially online over the Internet. In order to help students become familiar with fundamentals of taking courses online over the Internet, the school may determine that a portion of the first online course that a student takes in this program must be taken online at the school in a supervised setting.

NOTE: The course descriptions for the courses in this program are in the Course Descriptions section of this catalog. The school may, at any time in its discretion, vary the offering and/or sequence of courses in this program and revise the curriculum content of the program or any course in the program.