Mission

The Division mission statement reads as follows:

The mission of the Division of Criminal Justice is the preparation of students for professional and academic careers related to criminal justice. The Division of Criminal Justice fosters and encourages a learning environment inclusive of interests of race, gender, ethnicity, and class. The Division of Criminal Justice's primary responsibility is teaching. Division faculty enhance their teaching effectiveness by engaging in scholarly and creative activity and service to the University and the greater community. The Criminal Justice faculty acknowledges that the mission of the Division should occur within an atmosphere of collegial governance.

Although the Division offers baccalaureate and master's degrees in criminal justice, a minor in criminal justice, and limited general education courses, it has long defined its primary mission as the undergraduate education of students intent on the pursuit of careers in criminal justice or related fields. Largely as a result of this strategy, the undergraduate program at CSUS has become one of the largest in the United States and the largest in the state. Unlike many other criminal justice programs, we do not offer formal concentrations within the degree. As an alternative, we focus on a required core that we believe provides all graduates with a basic knowledge of the field and allow the student to use their 21 elective units to shape their individual program in conjunction with an advisor. We offer a balanced graduate program that will serve both students seeking advanced education before pursuing a career and mid-career professionals.

Although interest in forensic science has been particularly strong in recent years due to media portrayal of forensic investigation, we have not considered reinstating our forensic program. Forensic science is first, and foremost, science. We encourage students expressing an interest in this field to major in chemistry with a minor in criminal justice. Students must first master advanced chemistry or biology before developing the applied skills necessary in forensic science. We do believe grounding in law and investigation acquired through a criminal justice minor can prove useful to the forensic scientist; thus we have instituted a minor in forensic science open to both chemistry and biology majors.