Criminal Justice, BA-CJ

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General Information

The Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice is a four-year baccalaureate degree program. The curriculum for the degree educates students in six program areas including, Foundations in Justice Studies, Human Relations, Human Justice, Criminological Literacy, Experiential Learning, and General Education. This program provides professional preparation for students wishing to pursue careers such as Law Enforcement, Canadian Border Services, Immigration Canada, Federal, Provincial and Community Corrections and Probation/Parole. As well, the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice will prepare students for a range of justice-related careers outside of law enforcement and corrections. The Honours stream in the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice is unique in Alberta. Students in the Honours stream will develop enhanced knowledge and skills that are particularly suited for preparation to apply for graduate study in criminology/criminal justice and law school.

Police Information Check

In order to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice degree, students may complete a practicum course in a justice-related agency. In some cases, agencies may require students to provide proof of a police information check prior to commencing the course. All costs related to the police information check are the responsibility of the student. Refer to the statement regarding police information and other background checks in this calendar.

Program Continuance

Students accepted into the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice degree program must comply with all University policies and regulations relating to Bachelor of Arts degrees and continuance.

Opportunities for Further Study

The Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice degree, and the Honours stream, do not guarantee either eligibility for, or admission into, graduate studies or law school. Graduates must meet the individual universities’ admission requirements in a competitive process. However, past graduates of Mount Royal’s justice-related undergraduate degree have earned admission into several justice-related Master of Arts degrees and law schools across Canada. Students considering graduate school or law school are encouraged to investigate their postgraduate educational plans with an academic advisor at the institution in which they are seeking to enrol.

General Admission Requirements

All students must meet the general admission requirements for Mount Royal University programs, as indicated in the Admission section of this calendar.

Additional Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting the general admission requirements indicated in the Admission section of this calendar, applicants must also satisfy the following criteria:

Academic Course Requirements

The following specific courses (or equivalencies) with the specified minimum grades are required for admission into the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice program:

English Language Arts 30-1 - 60%
Mathematics 30-1 or 30-2

Although Conditional Admission may be granted in advance of receipt of final/official transcripts, confirmation of the achievement of specified minimum grades will take place after all final/official transcripts have been received by the University. Applicants who do not meet these minimum grade requirements will be denied admission.

Indigenous Student Admission

Each year 10% of the seats in the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice program will be reserved for Indigenous applicants through an Indigenous admission target.

To be considered for admission under the Indigenous admission target, the applicant must:

self-identify as an Indigenous applicant on the Application for Admission
meet the definition of an Indigenous Applicant
meet the minimum admission requirements as indicated in the General Admission requirements for Mount Royal University as well as any program level admission requirements

Designated seats for this special consideration target will be filled by Indigenous applicants on a competitive basis. Applicants are encouraged to apply during the Early Admission period. Any unfilled designated seats will be released on June 15 to students applying under the general admission requirements.

See general admission requirements in the Admissions section of this calendar for further information.

Curriculum

The foundation of the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice degree includes 120 credits. These credits usually consist of 20 required core courses, 10 General Education courses, and eight Electives, for a total of 38 courses, over four years. A maximum of 72 credits of CRJS prefixed courses can be used for graduation.

Nine credits from the following

Choose nine credits from the bottom list and/or CRJS-prefixed courses (exceptions require department approval):

ECON 1170 - Economics of Crime and Criminal Justice
PLSC 2243 - Law, Politics and the Judicial Process *
* Students who complete PLSC 2243 (6 credits) as a criminal justice option course are required to complete only 3 credits of other criminal justice option courses.

Electives

24 credits (usually 8 courses) Electives

General Education Requirements

Ten courses must be completed to meet the General Education requirements to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice.

Four courses will be taken at the foundational level: one from each of the thematic clusters.
Three courses will be taken at the second tier: no more than one from each of the thematic clusters. One of these courses must be from the Numeracy and Scientific Literacy cluster.
Three courses must be taken at the third tier, selected from at least two of the thematic clusters.

Practica

Students in the Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice must complete a 6-credit capstone practicum in order to graduate. There is no practicum requirement in the Honours stream.

A capstone practicum normally occurs in the fourth year of study. Coordinated by the Department’s Practicum Coordinator, students are placed with a justice-related agency to gain practical experience and enhance their experiential learning. Traditionally, practica are unpaid work experiences. Practica involve approximately 2.5 days of full-time work within an agency, biweekly academic seminars and required course assignments supervised by a faculty instructor. In total, practica involves 280 hours of placement hours and academic work over the academic term. Students are required to work with the Department’s Practicum Coordinator well in advance of going out on a placement and before registering for the practicum course.