Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice

What We Need From You

• Completed application form
• Official transcripts from all regionally accredited colleges or universities attended
• For applicants whose native language is not English, a minimum TOEFL test score of 600 on the paper-based test, a score of 250 on the computer-based test, or score of 100 on the internet-based test for international applicants, or a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 (Additional requirements will apply.)

Enrollment Eligibility

Official transcripts from all regionally accredited institutions of higher education previously attended must indicate a minimum grade point average of 2.0. To be eligible to enroll in a major, a minimum of 36 transferable credit hours (D grades do not transfer) including 3 credit hours of college-level English composition or equivalent with a grade of C or better must be earned.

Applicants who do not meet these minimum requirements will be considered for conditional or provisional admission on a case-by-case basis.

A student seeking to earn a bachelor’s degree must complete the required course of study as prescribed in the program. If a student has completed a comparable course within the past five years, he or she may request a course waiver for a maximum of two courses. The request to waive or transfer course work must be made in writing before beginning the bachelor’s program. The student’s schedule and financial aid packaging must be factored into the approval process for waived course work.

How to send transcripts to Baker.

Based on reasonable projections of faculty availability and appropriate curriculum considerations, the following courses can change as deemed necessary by Baker University to fulfill its role and mission. Approximately 18 months are required to fulfill the core program requirements. Courses must be completed in the order recommended by the university.

CJ 100 Introduction to Criminal Justice Concepts
This course introduces students to the various processes used to prevent and control crime, as well as to examine the nature, extent, and implications of these processes on crime and American society. The bulk of this course will focus on explanations for why and how the stages of the criminal justice system handle crime and offenders. This is coupled with a goal to inform students on practical aspects of the criminal justice system.

CJ 220 Criminal Justice Research
This course introduces the logic and methods of the science that explain crime and crime control. The contributions of social science to knowledge are not mere deductions of common sense, but are conclusions drawn from thorough empirical research using a scientific process.

CJ 225 Criminology
This course introduces students to the various theories used to explain crime, as well as to examine the nature, extent, and causes of crime in American society.

CJ 226 Victimology
Victimology is the social scientific study of criminal victimization. As a sub-field of criminology, it too seeks to explain crime, but through more of a focus on the victims of crime.

CJ 247 Criminal Investigation
This course covers the fundamental principles and procedures employed in the investigation of a crime. Emphasis is placed on the investigation of specific crimes, the identification of sources of information, and the procedures necessary for the proper handling of evidence.

CJ 330 Inequality and Crime
This course examines how class, race, and gender intersect with crime and the criminal justice system. The course provides an overview of class, race, ethnic, and gender stratification in the United States and looks at how that stratification is reflected in judgments about crime and in treatments of various groups in the criminal justice system.

CJ 344 Youth and Crime
This course introduces students to the basic theories and issues in the study of juvenile delinquency and the juvenile justice system. The class covers four areas of the relationship between youth and crime.

CJ 380 Law and Society
This course is an analysis of the legal order of society. The basic premise is that law is both the product of social interaction and the impetus for social change.

CJ 385 Corrections
This course examines correctional practices, reforms, and their consequences. Included in the course examination will be the cultural, social, and theoretical context from which various corrections reforms have emerged over the past several centuries.

CJ 395 Criminal Justice Ethics 
This course examines a wide range of moral issues in the field of criminal justice. Topics covered include the use of harm to prevent harm, the use of discretionary decision making, and moral dilemmas.

CJ 495 Criminal Justice Seminar 
The senior seminar is the final course in the program’s course of study.  The seminar provides an opportunity to the criminal justice major to apply the knowledge, skills, and perspectives learned in study of the discipline.
Each student will study in-depth a selected topic in criminal justice.

Students must meet the following requirements to earn a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree:

• Successful completion of at least 124 credit hours
• Successful completion of the specified Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice upper-division courses and all other courses taken through Baker University (A maximum of 6 hours of comparable course work may be transferred into the BCJ upper-division courses with the exception of BCJ 300.)
• Cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
• A BBA core GPA of at least 2.0 in BCJ upper-division courses
• Satisfaction of the 30 credit hours of general education requirements in arts and humanities, social science and science. Typically, an earned Associate of Arts degree or an associate of Science degree from a regionally accredited institution will satisfy the requirement
• Satisfaction of the 9-credit-hour general education requirement in math, upper-division written English, and computer science (The upper-division written-English requirement is met with BCJ 310.
• Submission of intent to graduate form six months before anticipated degree completion
• Payment of all tuition and fees
• Approval by the faculty and Board of Trustees

General Education Course Requirements | 36 credits

• Arts & Humanities (with no more than 6 semester credits counted from any one discipline) 18 credits
• Social Sciences 6 credits
• Sciences 6 credits
• Math (College Algebra or higher) 3 credits
• Computer Science 3 credits
• Upper-College Written English 3 credits (satisfied in the BCJ core courses)

Total 36 credits (minus the 3 credits included in the BCJ upper-division courses)

General Electives | 46 credits

BCJ Core Courses | 42 credits

Transfer Hours

We will evaluate your transcripts from other regionally accredited colleges and universities to determine what credits will transfer.