Southeastern’s criminal justice program begins with our Christ-centered liberal arts (general education) core curriculum, through which you will develop an understanding and appreciation of God and His creation, human creativity and reason, and our place of responsibility as stewards in the world God has made. After you finish the general education core, you will complete a 36-hour criminal justice core. Within the criminal justice major itself, you will study the three major branches of our criminal justice system — law enforcement, the courts, and corrections. You also will study sociology — the foundation of the discipline — and special topics such as juvenile delinquency.

During your core course work, you’ll have the flexibility to take elective courses toward a minor in one of several relevant disciplines such as business, pre-law, social services, or psychology. For example, since criminal justice is becoming increasingly privatized, criminal justice professionals need the business skills to manage organizations, from prisons to private investigation firms. The business minor helps criminal justice majors develop this expertise. The pre-law minor will help to prepare you for law school through courses in business and communication law, government, theory, and other courses. The social services minor will prepare you to counsel juvenile delinquents, adult prisoners, and people on probation or parole. The psychology minor will give you insight into criminal behavior, whether you plan to work in law enforcement, corrections, the courts, or another related field.

By the time you graduate, you’re ready to commit your knowledge, skills, and ethical foundation to a criminal justice career or toward more training in law school or a graduate program. More broadly, however, with your Christ-centered training, you can affect your community. After graduation, Southeastern criminal justice majors are equipped for careers such as the following:

• Police officer
• Deputy sheriff
• State trooper
• Corrections officer
• Customs inspector
• Immigration and naturalization officer
• FBI investigative specialist
• Crime scene technician
• Bailiff
• Parole officer
• Probation officer
• Counselor in a correctional facility
• Teacher
• Manager of a criminal justice-related business