The Criminal Justice Program leads to the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Degree in criminal justice. The four-year course of study was developed by blending the various disciplines; history, sociology, political science, psychology, social work, and law. The curriculum at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is interdisciplinary, which enables the student to understand more clearly the interrelationships among justice systems and the impact of these systems on society. Students in the Criminal Justice Department complete the UMES general education requirements, acquiring knowledge and skills in general areas such as languages, the social sciences, the humanities, and health and physical education.
As a foundation for its curriculum, the Department’s courses consists of:
- legal, philosophical, political, moral and social issues of the justice system;
- theories and research about the nature and causes of crime and criminal behavior;
- analyses of the operations of the criminal, juvenile, and civil justice systems and their impact on society;
- investigation of the broad range of formal and informal mechanisms for dealing with crime, conflict, and injustice in society;
- theories of planning and management for courts, law enforcement, corrections and juvenile justice; and
- strategies for implementing constructive change in the criminal justice system.
The curriculum allows for supervised field experience as well as seminar and laboratory work which generally takes place in the junior/senior year. Students may elect to concentrate in a particular strand or functional area within the criminal justice system by their choice of electives. The concentrations are corrections, law enforcement and pre-law.
The minor program in Criminal Justice is designed to provide a secondary concentration for students majoring in other disciplines. The program objectives are: to promote informed understanding of the manner in which the criminal justice system functions; to closely examine the functional issues in criminal justice, and to explore criminological theory. The program consists of eighteen credit hours in criminal justice.
The UMES Pre-Law advisor is located in the Department of Criminal Justice. There is no Pre-Law major as such. Interested students are invited to meet with the Pre-Law Advisor in the Department.
Contact Information
Department of Criminal Justice
Hazel Hall, 3032
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853
Phone: (410) 651-6578
Fax (410) 651-7881
