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Criminal Justice and Security Studies

Criminal Justice and Security Studies Vision Statement

The University of Dayton has offered a Criminal Justice Studies (CJS) major for more than 50 years. The vision for the Department of Criminal Justice and Security Studies embraces the Catholic Marianist tradition of ethics, social justice, individual and community engaged inquiry and civic engagement by educating students on the root causes of injustice and providing opportunities for vocational discernment.

Criminal Justice and Security Studies Mission Statement

CJSS is dedicated to educating students who seek to serve the common good as law enforcement officers, lawyers, social service and nonprofit providers, security professionals, and the like. We extend the University’s Marianist mission by placing curricular emphasis on educating the whole person through a vocational discernment process that emphasizes ethics, integrity, critical thinking, stewardship, service and connection to others.

Students graduating with a CJS degree are expected to (Department SLOs):

  1. Understand how historical, theoretical, ethical, legal and social justice concerns impact the justice system;
  2. Critically analyze and develop ethical responses to justice challenges;
  3. Use social science research methods to investigate and respond to justice problems;
  4. Develop professional skills in real-world settings through experiential learning;
  5. Effectively communicate their perspectives on complex justice issues to diverse audiences; and
  6. Navigate collaborative efforts to solve practitioner and/or scholarly issues.