Criminal Justice Certificate
For more than three decades, the nationally-ranked Sociology Department at UMass Amherst, through its Criminal Justice (CJ) Certificate, has taken pride in providing the best and broadest traditional liberal arts education to students. The demand for public safety and security professionals with superior education and training has never been greater.
Additionally, in partnership with the Continuing and Professional Education (CPE), the certificate offers distance learning courses that can be taken online anywhere in the world and all year round. Our students therefore have a wider choice of courses than ever before. Our innovative online certificate lets you keep working while you build cutting-edge skills in domestic violence, cyber crime, criminal forensics, international organized crime and other specialties tailored to your career objectives.
Our courses are taught by experienced UMass and adjunct faculty—many of whom are nationally and internationally recognized experts engaged in cutting-edge research and professional experience.
Gain a solid foundation in criminal justice—and/or valuable credit toward your Bachelor’s Degree—as you prepare for positions in the judiciary, corrections, policing, homeland security, victim services, and social services fields through this flexible program that draws upon the resources of UMass Amherst’s nationally ranked Department of Sociology.
Who the certificate is for:
The CJ Certificate attracts students planning or continuing careers in the criminal justice system—from law enforcement to probation, courts, or corrections. Our graduates and certificate holders have served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Federal government, and other agencies as police officers, probation or parole officers, special agents, paralegals, criminal defense lawyers, and district attorneys.
Application:
Applications are available online, via email (onlinecj@soc.umass.edu), calling (413) 545-4059, or by stopping by Thompson Hall rm 712. Please note for University of Massachusetts matriculated, degree-seeking students, applications are only accepted beginning the day after the end of the current semester’s add/drop deadline through the 6th Friday after the add/drop deadline. Degree-seeking University of Massachusetts students admitted into the program should expect to possibly take 3 or more of the required courses on-line through CPE: http://www.umassulearn.net.
Certificate students not matriculated at the University of Massachusetts normally take all of their courses online through CPE. Upon completion students must fill out a Completion Form and submit an unofficial transcription.
Criminal Justice certificate course:
Recommended:
| _____ | Sociol 103, Sociol Problems |
Required:
| _____ | Sociol 241, Criminology |
| _____ | Sociol 342, Deviance and Social Order —OR— Sociol 323, Sociology of Law |
| _____ | Three upper-level (200+) Sociology / CJ courses, one of which may be taken in a department other than Sociology and approved on a case-by-case basis by the chief undergraduate advisor. Courses offered vary by semester; most are offered only online. Examples include: Sociol 242, Drugs & Society Sociol 343, Hate Crime Sociol 344, Gender Crime Sociol 345, Juvenile Delinquency Sociol 346, Communities Crime Sociol 347, Corporate Crime Sociol 391G, Street Gangs & Public Policy Sociol 391M, Serial Mass Murder Sociol 392A, Race, Class, & Crime Sociol 392J, Race & Policing Sociol 393I, International Criminal Justice Sociol 394F, Crime & Forensics Sociol 394S, White Collar Crime Sociol 395A, Probation & Parole Sociol 397D, Delinquency & Juvenile Justice Sociol 497C, Survey of Criminal Justice Fields One of the courses below can be substituted for a Sociology / CJ course: Legal 250, Intro to Legal Studies Legal 333, Law & Culture in America Polsci 163, Intro to Civil Liberties Polsci 360, Constitutional Law Psych 355, Adolescent Psychology Psych 380, Abnormal Psychology |
