Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies
We offer our students a broadly structured interdisciplinary curriculum.
Our mission is to provide students with knowledge of the historical, philosophical, social, political and legal theories, concepts, practices, and events which affect the criminal justice system, its agencies and components in contemporary society.
The Criminal Justice Studies program accelerated pathway to a Juris Doctor (JD) is exclusively available to first year students. Incoming students declaring Criminal Justice Studies as a major with a Pre-Law concentration have an opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Studies and a JD in 5 years, as part of our 3 + 2 or, in six years in the 3 + 3 pathway.
Welcome
In our interdisciplinary program within a Catholic university founded upon the Marianist tradition, students are encouraged to become "improvement agents" in their service to the community. They are expected to demonstrate the behaviors necessary for effective personal and group relationships while incorporating the rights and responsibilities of individuals, accepting and utilizing criticisms, and respecting human differences.
Learn as a student. Grow as a person.
Students are encouraged to appreciate sensitivity to the arts, view philosophy and religion as a means of human expression and examine opportunities for further intellectual development. They learn to use the sciences and mathematics as a means for analyzing, organizing, quantifying and expressing their ideas.
Courses offered in the criminal justice studies program, political science, psychology, sociology, anthropology and social work provide knowledge on the interdependence of people in communities and the world through differing cultures, systems of government and global organizations and networks.
University of Dayton students in this spring’s Introduction to Criminal Justice course are learning first-hand about life on death row by speaking directly with inmates featured in the book Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row by author Tessie Castillo.
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University of Dayton junior Huthayfa Usman created a reference guide for law enforcement to use when engaging the Muslim community. He hopes his guide, which provides basic information about Muslim culture, helps to build trust between community members and police.
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