Minor in Criminology and Criminal Justice

The Department of Sociology offers a minor in Criminology and Criminal Justice for students from other departments who wish to have some experience in an area outside their majors. Minors require fewer credit hours to complete than majors. Through this minor, students will gain sociological understanding of a variety of issues related to crime, deviance, and criminal justice. This course work will help prepare students who wish to work in a variety of fields, including those related to the criminal justice system.

To add a Criminology and Criminal Justice minor, contact the Department of Sociology at (970) 491-6044 or cla-soc_dept_info@mail.colostate.edu. 

Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion, students will be able to:

1. Analyze critically the major classical and contemporary theories from the 19th and 20th centuries. Demonstrate how well these theories help us understand or explain current social phenomena both in the U.S. and abroad. Apply a wide variety of theories, including European critical theory, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and post-modern theory, in required empirical research.
2. Analyze critically sociological phenomena by applying objective social research methodologies. Demonstrate a working knowledge of sociological theories and the application of these theories to real world social phenomena. Specifically, students will understand conceptual frameworks associated with:
   1. Social structure (social stratification, ethnic structures, social institutions, small group dynamics, social demography, and social organizations);
   2. Culture (socialization and the development of personalities, social norms, framing normative assumptions of societies and organizations); and
   3. Social agency (the behavior of the individual, collective behavior such as with social movements, and the principles of social-psychology).

Effective Fall 2020

Students must satisfactorily complete the total credits required for the minor. Minors and interdisciplinary minors require 12 or more upper-division (300- to 400-level) credits.

Additional coursework may be required due to prerequisites.

Students must receive a grade of C or higher for each course counting toward the minor.

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Lower Division
SOC 100	Introduction to Sociology (GT-SS3)	3
or SOC 105	Social Problems (GT-SS3)
SOC 253	Intro to Criminology and Criminal Justice	3
Upper Division
SOC 301	Development of Sociological Thought	3
or SOC 302	Contemporary Sociological Theory
SOC 311	Sociological Research Methods	3
Select one course from the following:		3
SOC 352	Criminology
SOC 372	Sociology of Deviance
Criminal Justice Systems Courses – select one course from the following:		3
SOC 354	Policing and Society
SOC 358	Punishment and Society
SOC 455	Sociology of Law
SOC 482A	Travel Abroad: Comparative Criminal Justice
Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice Courses – select one course from the following:		3
SOC 322	Environmental Justice
SOC 351	Corporate and State Crime
SOC 356	Inequality in Criminal Sentencing
SOC 357	Women, Crime, and Victimization
SOC 359	Green Criminology
SOC 482B	Travel Abroad: Crime and Deviance
Program Total Credits:		21