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Criminal Justice and Security Studies

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. The program has a full-time coordinator for community relations whose primary responsibility is to assist criminal justice studies majors with their career decisions through a nationally recognized internship operation. Known as the "Dayton Model," criminal justice studies internships contribute to educational goals in several important ways.

Knowledge acquired through an internship experience is firsthand. The student actually is a key player in the learning event. This is a very different approach to knowledge acquisition than the usual classroom experience where learning may be lecture, textbook, or teacher-centered. Here, in the field, student becomes teacher and assumes full responsibility for learning.


Yes, the University of Dayton's criminal justice studies program is one of the few in the country that has two criminal justice student organizations available. The curriculum has Omega Phi Delta (the criminal justice student/professional association) on campus. Social, athletic, cultural and professional events and services comprise the association's major activities. Presently, there are 61 students actively involved with this organization.

The program also hosts the Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma (the national criminal justice honor society). The organization serves the University's honor community and works very closely with the criminal justice multi-disciplinary faculty on curriculum matters. One student has been recognized, at one of the Alpha Phi Sigma national conventions, as the "Outstanding Criminal Justice Honor Student in the United States." The Zeta Chapter has also won the Outstanding Chapter Award for three consecutive years and a number of years ago hosted the national headquarters on campus.


The curriculum awards to the outstanding senior a research assistantship partially supported by the University's Fellows Fund and the program's own budget. The selected research assistant works directly with a number of criminologists on their research projects. The criminal justice studies research assistant's responsibilities include but are not limited to:

  • Undertaking Literature Searches
  • Writing Abstracts
  • Collecting Data
  • Undertaking Computer Runs with SPSS-X
  • Organizing Data and Materials

Yes, the criminal justice studies program offers the Sheriff Bernard "Beno" Keiter Memorial Scholarship Award that annually recognizes the "outstanding" criminal justice studies junior and/or senior. Monies awarded partially defray the student's tuition during their selected year of study, while a plaque is given at the annual graduation banquet acknowledging their academic achievements and contributions to the program, the University and/or the community.


Occupational responsibilities and tasks depend upon the objectives, charters, by-laws and organizational structure of each criminal justice agency. Some examples include law enforcement, criminal investigation, intelligence, probation and parole counseling, research, consumer advocacy and international services.

Positions are available with correctional agencies at the federal, state and county level; in municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies, as well as with some prosecutor and public defender's offices as online investigators. Positions are also available in industrial security, the consumer advocacy arena and with select law firms as possible paralegals.

Opportunities for employment with a federal justice administration agency are dependent on a candidate's particular professional talents, past occupational experiences and academic credentials.