愛荷華大學(xué)

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

recognize the causes and consequences of crime at the micro and macro levels and match these with prominent criminological perspectives;
describe the interrelated institutions and processes of the criminal justice system and legal systems;
apply theories of crime, legal systems, and criminal justice systems to explain actual and hypothetical scenarios, behaviors, and trends;
understand the role of formal law in advanced democracies;
explain the various social science methods of inquiry and use these to test specific criminological research questions;
recognize and explain social inequities in crime and criminal justice processes by race, social class, gender, region, and age; and
evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions for altering social behavior, including those deemed illegal or harmful.

Overview

The criminology, law and justice major examines issues related to race and ethnic diversity, and gender and poverty, heightening awareness of these important topics. Students learn about sociological explanations for crime and criminal justice; the operation of law and the criminal justice system, including their complex interplay with other institutions, such as the economy and politics; and important data sources on crime in the United States and internationally.

The criminology, law and justice course work required for the major is the same for B.S. and B.A. students, but the major for the B.S. includes additional semester hours in theory, statistics, and methods courses.

The Bachelor of Science with a major in criminology, law and justice requires a minimum of 120 s.h., including at least 48 s.h. of work for the major. Students must maintain a g.p.a. of at least 2.00 in all courses for the major and in all UI courses for the major. They also must complete the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences GE CLAS Core. Transfer students must earn at least 24 s.h. in criminology, law and justice course work at the University of Iowa; transfer courses must be approved by a sociology advisor.

The major in criminology, law and justice provides a foundation for graduate or professional study in criminology, criminal justice, sociology, psychology, law, social work, urban planning, social policy, and similar areas. The major pairs well with majors in other disciplines, such as psychology and social work, and affords students a competitive edge when applying to graduate school in forensic psychology or social work with a corrections emphasis.