The four-year baccalaureate degree program in Criminal Justice has as its major focus a critical understanding of the structural, administrative, political and professional context of the criminal justice system and its related agencies. Students will learn to question the assumptions behind both administrative practice and policies that emerge from a variety of sources, and to evaluate them on a range of criteria, including the empirical, theoretical, and ethical bases. This will also include an analysis of the influence of race, class, gender, and other forms of social inequality on the administration of criminal justice. The tools to engage constructively with both state and non-state/community responses to crime will be a theme throughout. This will include analyses of events that initiate the criminal process, the various paths through which the criminal cases proceed, the professional roles and responsibilities of workers within that process, prospects of reform and the policies that provide the professional context in which decisions are made.
Career Opportunities
Graduates of the Criminal Justice program will be able to pursue careers in a variety of capacities both inside and outside government. These may include working with victims, people in conflict with the law (such as young offenders), policing, the criminal courts, the correctional system, or community-based justice agencies. Graduates may also pursue further education through law school or graduate studies in disciplines such as Criminology.
CURRICULUM INFORMATION
Criminal Justice as a discipline draws on the theories, methods, and practices of a broad range of social sciences. The Criminal Justice program thus builds on two years of predominantly social science foundations, shared with Ryerson's Bachelor of Arts programs in Politics and Governance, Psychology, and Sociology, with specialized study in Criminal Justice in the final two years.
Semesters one through four: Students are introduced to Criminal Justice through a number of core courses that address the nature of policing, the criminal courts, and the correctional system in Canada, as well as the main theories of crime and the nature and extent of crime in Canada. Students also acquire the quantitative research skills relevant to the study of criminal justice. In addition to Criminal Justice courses, students select courses from other social science disciplines including Economics, Geography, Politics and Governance, Psychology, and Sociology. To ensure breadth, students may take no more than four courses in any one of these subject areas in the first two years.
Because students achieve breadth in the Social Sciences through course selection in Table I, only the following lower level Liberal Studies (Table A) subject courses can be selected: ENG, FRE, HST, IRL, ITM, MUS, NPF, PHL, SCI, SPN and THL.
Semesters five through eight: In the upper years, students study criminal justice issues in greater depth, exploring such topics as youth justice, aboriginal justice, strategies of crime control and prevention, social inequality and the criminal justice system, how crime is depicted in the media, the establishment of the International Criminal Court, and many more. In addition to program courses, students choose courses from a broad range of subject areas that complement their professional studies and broaden their career preparation. These include courses in Business Communication, Human Resources Management, Law, Nonprofit and Volunteer Sector Management, Interdisciplinary Studies, Economics, Geography, Politics and Governance, Sociology, Psychology, and the sciences such as Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics.
Through a range of courses in all four years, students also develop core competencies necessary to succeed at the university level and in the modern workforce. Through an introduction to the Social Sciences, students explore an approach to critical analysis that is shared by several disciplines and will guide life-long learning. Students also develop skills in basic qualitative research methods, critical and analytical thinking, and effective communication.
Transferability Guidelines
Students admitted to either the Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, Politics and Governance, Psychology, or Sociology may transfer from their current program and plan to any one of the other three plans for the Fall term of either their second or third year of studies. Applications are available through the Program Office and must be submitted by February 2nd. Transfer applications are considered on a competitive basis subject to program capacity, and therefore program choice cannot be guaranteed.
In order to transfer to Criminal Justice from Politics and Governance, Psychology or Sociology, students must: (1) have a CLEAR Academic Standing at the end of the Winter term in which they apply to transfer; and (2) have successfully completed CRM 100 and CRM 102.
Liberal Studies
Students must take three lower level liberal studies courses and three upper level liberal studies courses to graduate.
Minors
Students may pursue any Minor offered by Ryerson (with exceptions), and are eligible for only one Minor. Please refer to the Minors Policy section of this calendar for further information on individual Minor requirements and restrictions.
The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education Certificates
Undergraduate students wishing to pursue a continuing education certificate program should be aware of possible restrictions. Please refer to the Curriculum Advising website at www.ryerson.ca/curriculumadvising for complete details.
