Criminal Justice Major Requirements

OVERVIEW OF DEGREE REQUIREMENTS – CRIMINAL JUSTICE

-Minimum number of credits required to graduate: 120
-Minimum Cumulative GPA required to graduate: 2.0
-Minimum number of credits required to complete the major: 36
-Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward major: At least a “C” in either ENG 201, or
ENG 315, or ENG 317; at least a “C-” in an advanced methods course; at least a “C” in each of the Core
requirements except for SOC 101, SOC 201, and CRJ 114.
-Other GPA requirements to graduate: Cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better in the courses in the major field
that are credited toward the major.
-Required Course(s) for fulfilling Capstone Experience: CRJ 499; three credits of CRJ 493; three
credits of CRJ 495; or successful completion of an Honors College thesis in criminal justice.
-Courses satisfying the writing intensive requirement within the major: CRJ 290.
–Residency Requirement: At least 15 credits of UM Courses (excluding CRJ 114 and SOC 101)


Contact Information: Karyn Sporer, Chair, Fernald Hall, Room 201G, 207-581-2361, karyn.sporer@maine.edu


Major Requirements:
Core Required Courses (15 credits)
● SOC 101 – Introduction to Sociology or SOC 201 – Social Inequality
● CRJ 114 – Survey of Criminal Justice
● CRJ 214 – Introduction to Criminology
● CRJ 290 – Research Methods in Criminal Justice (cross-listed with SOC 290)
● CRJ 499 – Senior Capstone (cross-listed with SOC 499)


Electives (15 credits) The 15 credits minimum in CRJ electives must be distributed as follows: 6 credits in
each category of which 3 must be CRJ credits, 3 additional CRJ credits from either category, and at least 9 of the 15 credits must be at the 300- or 400-level:


Category 1: Fundamentals of Crime, Law, and the Justice System
● CRJ 219 – Police and Society ​​
● CRJ 220 – Corrections
● CRJ 224 – Criminal Courts
● CRJ 240 – Topics in Criminal Justice
● CRJ 314 – Law and Society
● CRJ 340 – Intermediate Topics in Criminal Justice
● POS 282 – Introduction to American Law 
● POS 383 – American Constitutional Law 
● POS 384 – American Civil Liberties 
● POS 470 – International Law 
● POS 484 – American Constitution & Criminal Due Process

Category 2: Advanced Topics in Criminology
● CRJ 244 – Topics in Criminology
● CRJ 301 – Gender and Crime
● CRJ 302 – Race and Crime
● CRJ 308 – Problems of Violence and Terrorism (cross-listed with SOC 308)
● CRJ 323 – Social Movements, Protest and Policing (cross-listed with SOC 323)
● CRJ 324 – Domestic Violence (cross-listed with SOC 324)
● CRJ 344 – Intermediate Topics in Criminology
● CRJ 325 – Victimology
● CRJ 328 – White-Collar Crime
● POS 345 – Comparative Drug Policy
● PSY 212 – Abnormal Psychology 
● SOC 220 – Deviance and Social Control

Advanced Methods (3 credits) (One of the following courses must be passed with a grade of “C- or better)
● CRJ 291 – Qualitative Reasoning in Criminal Justice (cross-listed with SOC 291)
● CRJ 293 – Statistical Reasoning in Criminal Justice (cross-listed with SOC 293)
● PSY 241 – Statistics in Psychology
● STS 132 – Principles of Statistical Inference
● STS 235 – Introduction to Statistical Methods
● STS 434 – Probability Theory
● WGS 205 – Introduction to Feminist and Critical Data Analysis


English Proficiency (3 credits) (One of the following courses must be passed with a grade of “C” or better;
not required for Honors Students who complete the Honors Program’s four-semester Civilizations.)
● ENG 201 – Strategies for Writing Across Contexts
● ENG 315 – Research Writing in the Disciplines 
● ENG 317 – Business and Technical Writing
Thesis Options. The completion of a senior or honors thesis on a topic of the student’s choice under the
supervision of a sociology faculty member. While senior students will typically complete CRJ 499 as their
capstone experience, in rare circumstances students may conduct a significant piece of criminological
research with a faculty mentor. Students who take this course may choose to substitute CRJ 499-Senior
Capstone with 6 credits of CRJ 493 to satisfy both the Sociology and General Education capstone
requirements.


Criminal Justice majors may replace CRJ 499 by completing HON 498 and HON 499 if the following three
conditions are met:

  1. The student’s honors thesis is supervised by either:
    a. A sociology or criminal justice faculty member, or
    b. A faculty member from another department, provided the supervisor is pre-approved by the
    Sociology department chair.
  2. Criminal Justice is the student’s primary major.
  3. The honors thesis research process involves substantial use of criminological research methods
    and engagement with criminology literature, as determined by the thesis committee.

Internship Option. In addition to the foregoing requirements, students may optionally choose to take CRJ
495 – Internship in Criminal Justice (prerequisites: SOC 290 or CRJ 290, and 3.0 GPA) during their senior
year. Students may take 3-9 credits, and not more than 6 credit hours may be used toward the
departmental major. With permission, 3 credits of CRJ 495 can replace CRJ 499.


Transfer Students. Transfer students declaring Criminal Justice must take 15 credits of UM courses
(excluding SOC 101 and CRJ 114 to acquire the BA in Criminal Justice).