Criminology Major

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences – Department of Sociology & Criminology

 

The Bachelor of Arts with major in Criminology is an interdisciplinary baccalaureate program grounded in a strong liberal arts curriculum. This program introduces students to three important dimensions of criminology: 1) the role of law and legal systems; 2) social/structural dimensions of crime; 3) individual/behavioral dimensions of crime. While this program will undoubtedly attract students interested in criminal justice careers, it is intended to offer students access to a broader array of career opportunities than that provided by training in Criminal Justice. Students studying criminology at Framingham State University will learn to approach the issue of crime in society from a theoretically informed and research-based perspective in a program that places great emphasis on the underlying causes of crime and on the role of policy- making and policy implementation in crime prevention and crime control.

 

The General Education Requirement

All students must satisfy a general education requirement consisting of ten (10) courses outside of the major department. The General Education Domain II-A (Analysis, Modeling, and Problem Solving) requirement is satisfied through the completion of the Criminology or Sociology major.

 

Course Prerequisites                   

Courses may have specified conditions for enrollment, such as prior completion of less advanced courses, permission of the instructor, or appropriate placement test scores. Students should refer to course descriptions in the department listings for prerequisite requirements.

  

Major Requirements

Six (6) core courses:

  • CRIM 121 Social Perspectives on Criminology
  • CRIM 301 Criminology Theory
  • CRIM 302 Quantitative Methods I – Research Design
  • CRIM 303 Quantitative Methods II – Data Collection & Analysis
  • SOCI 320 Uncovering Meaning in the Social World

Capstone:

  • CRIM 480 Criminology Senior Thesis Seminar or
    • CRIM 495 Internship in Criminology or
    • POSC 450 Internship in the Judicial System

Recommended Courses:

  • PSYC 101 General Psychology

   

Concentration in General Criminology (UCRG)

Concentration core requirements (6 courses):

Select six (6) elective courses from the following list, at least three (3) of which must be CRIM-designated and at least two (2) must be at the 300-level or above.

  • ANTH 206 Forensic Anthropology
  • ANTH 258 Critical Approaches to Men and Masculinities
  • CRIM 120 The Fight for Social Justice: Institutional Battlegrounds
  • CRIM 201 White Collar Crime
  • CRIM 211 Crime and Inequality
  • CRIM 222 Global Criminology
  • CRIM 224 Juvenile Delinquency
  • CRIM 233 Victimization and Justice
  • CRIM 240 Drugs, Social Control, and the Law
  • CRIM 270 Social Deviance
  • CRIM 308 Understanding Violence
  • CRIM 313 The Culture of Punishment
  • CRIM 321 Intimate Partner Violence
  • CRIM 330 Policing and Society
  • CRIM 336 Sexual Violence
  • CRIM 360 Media and Crime
  • HSTY 186 History of Modern Violence
  • HLTH 326 Drugs, Alcohol, and Addictive Behavior
  • MGMT 215 Legal Environment of Business
  • NEUR 225 Biopsychology
  • PHIL 102 Introduction to Ethics: Why be Moral?
  • POSC 206 Constitutional Law: Powers of the Government
  • POSC 209 The American Supreme Court
  • POSC 250 American Legal Systems
  • POSC 270 Race, Politics, and the Law
  • POSC 272 Gender, Politics, and the Law
  • POSC 276 Technology, Politics, and the Law
  • POSC 315 Judicial Politics and Policy
  • POSC 316 United States Constitutional Law and Politics
  • POSC 337 Legislative Politics and Policy
  • PSYC 212 Adolescent Development
  • PSYC 222 Psychopathology
  • PSYC 271 Principles of Behavior Modification
  • PSYC 373 Psychology and the Law
  • SOCI 130 Social Problems
  • SOCI 203 Introduction to Critical Race Theory
  • SOCI 205 Geographic Information Systems Mapping for the Social Sciences
  • SOCI 213 Social Class
  • SOCI 230 Law and Society
  • SOCI 233 Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Justice
  • SOCI 245 Race and Ethnic Relations
  • SOCI 263 Social Inequality
  • SOCI 288 Immigration in the United States
  • SOCI 308 Political Sociology: Who Rules?
  • SOCI 333 Society, Mental Health, and the Individual

 

Effective as of the 2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog