students will learn to question the assumptions behind both administrative practice and policies that emerge from a variety of sources, and to evaluate them on a range of criteria, including the empirical, theoretical, and ethical bases. this will also include an analysis of the influence of race, class, gender, and other forms of social inequality on the administration of criminal justice and broader institutions. the tools to engage constructively with both state and non-state/community responses to crime will be a theme throughout. this will include analyses of events that initiate the criminal process, the various paths through which the criminal cases proceed, the professional roles and responsibilities of workers within that process, prospects of reform and the policies that provide the professional context in which decisions are made.

graduates of the criminology program will be able to pursue careers in a variety of capacities both inside and outside government. these may include working with victims, people in conflict with the law (such as young offenders), policing, the criminal courts, the correctional system, or community-based justice agencies. graduates may also pursue further education through law school or graduate studies in disciplines such as criminology.