Why Criminal Justice?
Richmond’s criminal justice program is designed to introduce students to critical issues in criminal justice, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The degree is not designed to single-handedly prepare students to become officers of the law, though many majors are ultimately drawn to careers in the legal profession or law enforcement. Rather, the program teaches students to ask tough questions about the criminal justice system, how we protect victims and punish perpetrators of violence, how we rehabilitate offenders and enforce equality among different groups of people making their way through the same system.
The major is designed, not to narrow your focus, as much as to broaden your mind. Successful criminal justice graduates work in every arena: politics, education, communications, law, public policy, social work and, of course, law enforcement, correctional counseling, probation and parole counseling and criminal justice administration.
