Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice
Degree Requirements

(subject to catalog requirements at the time of admission)

Overview of Credits

1. General Education Requirements
   1. Competency                                           11 credits
   2. Humanities                                             12 credits
   3. Social Sciences                                       9 credits
   4. Natural Sciences                                     9 credits
   5. International Education                          3 credits
   6. Gender and Ethnic Studies                   3 to 6 credits
2. Criminal Justice Major
   1. Core Requirement                               15 credits
   2. Research Method Requirement          3 credits
   3. Theory Requirement                              3 credits
   4. Electives Requirement                        15 credits
3. Business Administration Minor
   1. Required Courses                              12 credits
   2. Elective Courses                                 12 credits
4. Electives                                                       up to 16 credits (may vary)
5. Writing Proficiency Exam

Total:                                                                 120 credits

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General Education Requirements

Discuss your options with your academic advisor who can guide you in determining which courses from UW-Platteville or other institutions will meet your general education requirements.

You can complete your general education requirements by

• Taking distance courses through UW-Platteville (indicated as hyperlinks below)
• Taking distance courses through UW Colleges or UW Independent Learning
• Taking approved on-campus or online courses from UW-Platteville or other institutions
• Transferring approved credits from other institutions

A. Competency Requirements (11 credits total)

Communication (8 credits)

English Composition

• ENGLISH 1130 Freshman Composition
• ENGLISH 1230 Freshman Composition

Speech Communication (2 credits)

• SPEECH 1010 Public Speaking

Mathematics (3 credits)

At least one math course at or above MATH 1630 is required. Elementary Statistics (MATH 1830 or equivalent) is recommended.

B. Liberal Arts Requirements (36 credits total)

Fine Arts, Humanities, and Historical Perspective (12 credits)

You must earn at least three credits in each of these areas and a fourth course as explained below:

Fine Arts (3 credits)
Includes courses in art, music, and theater
MUSIC 1590 Music Appreciation

Humanities (3 credits)
Includes courses in literature, foreign language, philosophy, or women’s studies

Historical Perspective (3 credits)
Includes history courses

Fourth course (3 credits)
The remaining three credits must be a second course from one of the disciplines chosen for the first course in Fine Arts or Humanities or Historical Perspective.

For example, if you took a course in English literature for the humanities requirement, you could take another literature course as your fourth course, but a course in philosophy would not qualify since it wouldn't match the same discipline as your prior course for the humanities requirement.

C. Social Science (9 credits)

You must take at least three credits in each of two disciplines, including economics, political science, psychology, sociology, cultural geography, women's studies, and criminal justice. The remaining three credits must be a second course in one of the disciplines chosen.

• CRIMLJUS 1130 Introduction to Criminal Justice¹
• ECONOMIC 2130 Principles of Macroeconomics
• ECONOMIC 2230 Principles of Microeconomics

¹ Required for the degree

D. Natural Science (9 credits)

You must take courses from at least two different disciplines including physics, biology, chemistry, geography, physical science, and geology, and each course must involve a laboratory experience.

E. International Education (3 credits)

• BUSADMIN 1300 Global Business

F. Ethnic & Gender Studies (3 – 6 credits)

You must take at least three credits in ethnic studies and three credits in gender studies, or take one 3-credit course that satisfies both the ethnic and gender studies requirement.

• BUSADMIN 3340 Management, Gender, & Race
  (This course satisfies both the ethnic and gender requirements)

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Criminal Justice Major Requirements

For the criminal justice major, students must earn a minimum of 36 credits (12 courses) as outlined below. All of these courses are offered online through UW-Platteville:

A. Core Requirement (15 credits)

• CRIMLJUS 1130 Introduction to Criminal Justice
• CRIMLJUS 2130 The Police Function
• CRIMLJUS 2230 Correctional Philosophy
• CRIMLJUS 4030 Criminal Law
• CRIMLJUS 4930 Criminal Justice Seminar (Each major must pass the departmental writing proficiency exam before taking CJ Seminar.)

B. Research Methods Requirement (3 credits)

• CRIMLJUS 3900 Research Methods in Criminal Justice ^{2
  2} This course has a prerequisite of CRIMLJUS 2130 and 2230 with a "C" or higher, MATH 1830 (Elementary Statistics), and junior standing or consent of the instructor.

C. Theory Requirement (3 credits)

• CRIMLJUS 3630 Juvenile Justice
  ...OR...
• CRIMLJUS 3430 Patterns of Criminal Justice & Delinquent Behavior

D. Electives Requirement (15 credits)

• CRIMLJUS 3130 Criminal Investigation ³
• CRIMLJUS 3330 Police Administration ³
• CRIMLJUS 4130 Police-Community Relations ³
• CRIMLJUS 4230 Community-Based Corrections ⁴
• CRIMLJUS 4330 Criminal Procedures and Evidence ⁵

³ These courses have a prerequisite of CRIMLJUS 2130 with a “C” or higher and junior standing or consent of the instructor.

⁴ This course has a prerequisite of CRIMLJUS 2230 with a “C” or higher and junior standing or consent of the instructor.

⁵ This course has a prerequisite of CCRIMLJUS 4030 with a “C” or higher and junior standing or consent of the instructor.

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Business Administration Minor

The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice online program is paired with a minor in business administration, with courses available in online and print-based formats. Students who want to earn a minor in business administration must complete four required courses and four business administration electives.

A. Required Courses

• ACCTING 2010 Financial Accounting
• BUSADMIN 1300 Global Business
• BUSADMIN 2330 Leadership and Management
• BUSADMIN 2630 Introduction to Marketing

B. Elective Courses

• BUSADMIN 3030 Human Resource Management
• BUSADMIN 3100 Compensation Management
• BUSADMIN 3120 Retailing
• BUSADMIN 3130 Legal Environment of Business
• BUSADMIN 3240 E-Commerce and E-Marketing in Today's World
• BUSADMIN 3340 Management, Gender, and Race
• BUSADMIN 3400 Personal Financial Planning
• BUSADMIN 3500 Employee Training and Development
• BUSADMIN 3530 Organizational Behavior
• BUSADMIN 3540 Quality Management
• BUSADMIN 3620 Financial Management
• BUSADMIN 3650 International Financial Management
• BUSADMIN 3720 International Marketing
• BUSADMIN 3740 Consumer Behavior
• BUSADMIN 4140 International Management
• BUSADMIN 4200 Employee Recruitment and Selection
• BUSADMIN 4330 Labor-Management Relations
• BUSADMIN 4630 Marketing Management

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Electives

Electives may vary - up to 16 credits

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Writing Proficiency Exam

GRADING CRITERIA FOR THE WRITING PROFICIENCY EXAM

1. CONTENT: awareness of purpose, focus, logic, length, redundancy, does not address topic/thesis
2. ORGANIZATION: logical order, coherence, unity
3. DEVELOPMENT: inadequate explanation, ineffective examples, insufficient details
4. PARAGRAPHING: too many, too few, inadequately developed, transitions needed
5. SENTENCE STRUCTURE: fragments, comma splices, run-ons, awkwardness, wordy, lack of parallelism, lack of variety
6. DICTION: wrong word, slang, cliche'
7. EXACTNESS: missing words, vague words, needless repetition of words
8. GRAMMAR: pronoun shift, tense shift, wrong verb, wrong pronoun, passive voice, subject/verb agreement, adjective/adverb error, pronoun/antecedent error
9. SPELLING: wrong word ending, incorrect form of words, misspelled words
10. MECHANICS: commas, capitals, apostrophes, semicolons, colons

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