Criminology and Law - Online Program

The Department of Sociology and Criminology and Law offers an online interdisciplinary degree program for upper-division transfer students. Students seeking a degree in criminology and law will study the complexities of relationships among the legal, social, political, historical and psychological influences affecting law processes and crime and justice.

Overview

Courses focus on explanations for the development of law within society, why people break laws and how society reacts to law-breaking. Interdisciplinary breadth in the study of criminology and law is essential for those majoring in criminology. Majors may enroll in relevant courses offered outside the department.

After obtaining a BA in criminology and law, students can seek careers as professionals working within the criminal or juvenile justice systems (i.e., courts, law enforcement, corrections). Many students also attend law school, while others attend graduate school where they may conduct research on criminological issues.

Once accepted to this program, students can pursue the degree without moving to Gainesville. Coursework for the junior and senior years will be offered via electronic distance learning, and UF faculty will teach and advise students in the program. This program is designed to be pursued entirely online, and thus, students will not be permitted to take any courses on-campus while enrolled in the program.

Students will need access to a personal computer capable of connecting to the World Wide Web and sending and receiving electronic mail. It is recommended but not required that the student's computer have a video conferencing capability.

Once enrolled in the online program, students will not be permitted to change their major, nor will they be permitted to change to the criminology program for resident students.

For more information, contact Dianne Bollinger at gdb@ufl.edu.

Coursework for the Program

The major requires 34 hours. At least 22 of the 34 must be taken at UF in courses offered by the department with prefixes of CCJ, CJC, CJE, CJJ or CJL. Students may apply no more than six credits of 1000/2000-level coursework to the major, including CCL 2000.

A maximum of 12 credits of criminology courses can be transferred toward the major. Students who transfer six hours of 1000/2000-level (lower division) credits into the major should not take UF’s CJL 2000. There are restrictions on which lower-division courses will transfer to the major. Lower-division courses that transfer into the major include introductory courses on criminology, criminal justice and criminal law/procedure. Students who wish to take interdisciplinary courses and transfer credits from another institution need to be careful about the 22-hour residency requirement.

Minimum grades of C must be earned in courses that count toward the major. (The only exception is CCJ 4940 Internship/Practicum, which requires a grade of S).

Required Coursework

All Criminology Majors (13 credits):

• CCJ 3024 Advanced Principles of Criminal Justice (3 credits)
• CCJ 3701 Research Methods in Criminology (4 credits)
• CCJ 4014 Criminological Theory (3 credits)
• CJL 3038 Law and Society (3 credits)

These courses are the basis for meeting the student learning outcomes in the major’s academic learning compact, therefore they must be taken at UF.

Law-driven Requirement (take at least one course, 3 credits):

• CJL 2000 Law and Legal Process (3 credits)
  Students should take this course only if they have not already completed six hours of 1000/2000-level criminology courses. This course must be taken during or after Fall 2009 to apply to the law-driven requirement.
• CJL 4050 Juvenile Law (3 credits)
• CJL 4110 Criminal Law (3 credits)
• CJL 4410 Criminal Procedure (3 credits)

Criminology and Law Electives (18 credits minimum):

• Majors may choose from any course offered in the department not used to meet the requirements above.
• In addition, students may take up to nine credits from approved interdisciplinary courses (outside of Criminology and Law). These approved interdisciplinary courses may also apply to the CLAS electives requirement. These courses do not apply toward the 22-hour residency requirement. A list of the approved interdisciplinary courses that are online will be available.

Students may apply only three credits of CCJ 4940 (internship/practicum) and three credits of CCJ 4905 (individual work) to the 34 credits for the major.

The online program initially will have restricted offerings, but more courses will come online each term so that students will have sufficient choices to complete their degrees on time.

Additional Coursework

To be certified to graduate, students will have to satisfy requirements for the major and requirements for the college and university. For degree requirements outside of the major, refer to CLAS Degree Requirements — Structure of a CLAS Degree.

The colleges assumes that most students enrolled in the program will have completed a majority of their general education and basic distribution requirements before entering UF. Therefore, the majority of UF coursework students will likely complete will be criminology courses and 3000-level electives outside the major. However, because each student is different, students must meet with their department adviser to determine their remaining individual requirements for graduation.

Students will have to complete at least 60 hours total at UF to meet minimum requirements for the BA degree.

Exit Exam Requirement: To complete the major students must pass a department exit examination regarding crime, criminal justice, law and society and criminological theory.

Research

Majors may pursue original research through the upper-division honors program in the major, especially via senior thesis credits (CCJ 4970). Others pursue independent research through supervised individual work (CCJ 4905). The major also offers a research internship (CCJ 4940), which allows students to work in ongoing research projects.

Admission Criteria

Students may enroll in the program after earning the Associate of Arts degree or having accrued 60 transferrable hours from an accredited academic institution. Before enrolling, students are expected to complete the majority of their general education requirements and they should have completed their foreign language proficiency as well as a one-credit science laboratory.

The admissions process will be competitive, so students should prepare their applications carefully and be attentive to their grades.

To be considered for admission to the online program, students must have completed or be in process of completing three prerequisite courses (or the equivalents) from the following list:

• Introductory criminal justice/criminology courses (CCJ, CJL or CJE prefixes), and/or
• AMH 2010 United States to 1877, AMH 2020 United States Since 1877, ANT 2000 General Anthropology, ANT 2410 Cultural Anthropology, ECO 2013 Principles of Macroeconomics, ECO 2023 Principles of Microeconomics, PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy, PHI 2630 Contemporary Moral Issues, POS 2041 American and Federal Government, POS 2112 American State and Local Government, PSY 2012 Introduction to Psychology, SYG 2000 Principles of Sociology, SYG 2010 Social Problems, and/or
• STA 2023 Introduction to Statistics (three credits)

Students should maintain an overall 2.5 GPA and a 2.5 GPA within their prerequisite coursework to be competitive for admission.

Recommended Semester Plan

A plan of study for a student who would like to finish in four semesters is presented below. It incorporates courses to satisfy the typical major, college and university requirements students are most likely to have remaining upon enrollment at UF. Since students will enroll with varied educational backgrounds, they must meet with their department adviser to determine their remaining individual requirements for graduation.

Students are expected to complete the writing and math requirement while in process of taking the courses below. Students are also expected to complete the general education international (GE-N) and diversity (GE-D) requirements concurrently with another general education requirement (typically, GE-C, H or S).

To graduate with this major, students must complete all university, college and major requirements.

Criminology and Law Electives:
Students can select any CCJ, CJE, CJL or CJJ elective and up to 9 hours from the approved interdisciplinary courses (refer to electives list after table in middle of page). Students should talk to the department to determine which courses are available online.Some of these courses have prerequisites.

• AEB 4123 Law Applied to Agriculture
• AMH 3551 Constitutional History of the U.S. to 1877
• AMH 3552 Constitutional History of the U.S. from 1877
• AMH 3558 United States Legal History
• ANT 3522 Skeleton Keys: Forensic Identification
• ANT 4273 Anthropology of Law
• ANT 4740 Introduction to Forensic Science
• BUL 4310 Legal Environment of Business
• CLP 3144 Abnormal Psychology
• ECP 4451 Law and Economics
• ENC 3254 Professional Writing for the Discipline (3 credits maximum)
• HIS 4306 Alcohol and History
• LEI 4501 Legal Aspects of Recreation, Parks and Tourism
• MMC 4200 Law of Mass Communication
• PAD 3003 Introduction to Public Administration
• PAD 4604 Administrative Law and Regulatory Politics
• PHM 4440 Philosophy of Law
• POS 3603 American Constitutional Law
• POS 3606 American Civil Liberties
• PSB 4065 Psychobiology of Abnormal Behavior
• PUP 4021 Law, Politics and Public Interest
• REL 4179 Religious Perspectives on Ethics, Law and Public Policy
• SPC 3513 Argumentation
• STA 3024 Introduction to Statistics 2
• STA 4222 Sample Survey Design
• SYO 3510 Mental Health and Illness
• SYP 3510 Deviance
• SYP 3542 Comparative Legal Institutions
• SYP 4530 Juvenile Delinquency
• SYP 4540 Sociology of Law
• SYP 4550 Alcohol, Drugs and Society