Community Criminal Justice: Bachelor of Arts (also: Honours)

All intakes for this program have been postponed.

Description

The Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice is currently under review. Intakes have been suspended pending completion of the review. Please check with an Arts Degree Advisor to discuss your academic plan.

The Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice program is designed to enable students to critically examine and explore the concepts and practices of justice, equality, and fairness that underpin our social and legal institutions. In so doing, students embark on community engagement and on an active and sustained engagement with institutions of civil society that can be productively harnessed to bring about social justice.

By combining theory and practice, students investigate issues of class, race, gender, and socio-economic conditions and examine how they shape our society. This program integrates opportunities to engage in undergraduate research, service learning, and practicum placements that provide students with highly transferable and marketable knowledge and skills.

The Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice program provides students with the following benefits:

• A broad understanding of crime and social justice issues within community, national, and international contexts.
• Courses unique in Canada that unite practical and professional skills with community building and social justice.
• An understanding of social and legal responses to crime and justice and the inter-relationship of these responses on societal attitudes.
• A solid understanding of, and familiarity with, the research techniques that allow us to accurately document crime, victimization, attitudes, and social and legal change.
• Ability to think critically and respond innovatively to emerging trends in community-based justice and related agencies.
• Opportunities to work in direct partnership with local agencies and faculty on projects or engage in research, working closely with academic supervisors.
• An understanding of, and ability to use, various means to promote social justice, including conflict resolution, restorative justice, community advocacy in a human rights framework, and an ability to deal with the many regulatory regimes that affect people in the justice system.

This unique program ensures that graduates have covered a range of theoretical, scientific, legal, and practical courses. Specific upper-division courses build knowledge and skills in:

• Understanding historical and contemporary perspectives of social justice and injustice
• Developing individual skills and leadership abilities to work effectively with community-based agencies and organizations that promote social justice goals
• Understanding crime in communities and its prevention
• Empirical data collection, analysis, and presentation
• Conflict resolution and mediation
• Restorative justice
• Professional communication skills
• Project planning, management, and evaluation
• Advocacy, human rights, and decision making in regulatory agencies
• Professional ethics

Students who are interested in applying to graduate school or prefer more extensive research experience are encouraged to undertake a structured program leading to an Honours degree. Students may obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice Honours degree by completing a further 12 credits of coursework centred on developing, researching, and writing an Honours Thesis.

Note: See the Bachelor of Arts Honours, Major, and Minor in Criminology for information on an alternate program.

Career Opportunities

The limited success of traditional responses to crime, violence, poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and other social issues has increased calls for different approaches and strategies. New awareness of the burdens and social costs associated with these issues requires communities to rethink and refocus their efforts. KPU's Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice features a unique focus on community-based solutions to crime and social justice issues. Our innovative program prepares students for career opportunities in community-based work, social service delivery, legal advocacy, public safety, human rights, and the non-profit sector. The conceptual, critical, and applied skills that students acquire in this program will be attractive to employers in a wide range of settings, including community-based agencies and traditional organizations concerned with the justice field, such as law enforcement, courts, corrections, and customs and border security.

Admission Requirements

The Faculty's Admission Requirements, which consist of KPU's undergraduate English Proficiency Requirement, apply to this program.

Declaration Requirements

Students intending to graduate with this Faculty of Arts Bachelor’s degree must declare the credential by the time they complete 60 credits of undergraduate coursework. At the time of declaration, the student must satisfy all of the following requirements:

• In good academic standing with the University
• Completion of a minimum of 18 credits of undergraduate coursework, including the following with a minimum grade of “C”:
  • 3 credits of ENGL at the 1100 level or higher
  • 6 credits at the 1100 level or higher in the Major area

Curricular Requirements

Students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree must complete all requirements in the Bachelor of Arts framework in addition to their major or minor program requirements.

Community Criminal Justice Degree

The Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice requires that students complete 120 credits of post-secondary studies (132 credit hours for the Honours degree option).

1000 Level

Required courses:
	CRIM 1100	Introduction to Criminology	3 credits
	CRIM 1101	Introduction to the Criminal Justice System	3 credits
	CRIM 1107	Canadian Legal Systems	3 credits
	CRIM 1207	Introduction to Criminal Law	3 credits
	CRIM 1208	Methods of Research in Criminology	3 credits
	CRIM 1215	Interpersonal and Professional Development in Criminology	3 credits
	PSYC 1100	Introduction to Psychology: Basic Processes	3 credits
	SOCI 1125	Introduction to Society: Processes and Structures	3 credits
Plus one of:
	PHIL 1100	Introduction to Philosophy	3 credits
	PHIL 1110	Confronting Moral Issues: Introduction to Ethics	3 credits
	PHIL 1145	Critical Thinking	3 credits
	PHIL 1150	Introduction to Formal Logic	3 credits

2000 Level

Required courses:
	CRIM 2103	Quantitative Data Analysis I	3 credits
	CRIM 2330	Psychological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour	3 credits
	CRIM 2331	Sociological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour	3 credits
	CRIM 2341	Canadian Criminal Justice Administration	3 credits
Plus one of:
	CRIM 2204	Criminal Justice and Psychology	3 credits
	CRIM 2205	Crime, Criminal Justice, and the Media	3 credits
	CRIM 2211	Introduction to Policing	3 credits
	CRIM 2214	Corrections: Theory and Practice	3 credits
	CRIM 2249	Youth Justice	3 credits

3000 and 4000 Level

Students must complete all of the following courses:
	CMNS 3100	Technical Report Writing	3 credits
	CRIM 3000	Justice/Injustice	3 credits
	CRIM 3104	Qualitative Research Methods	3 credits
	CRIM 3800	Service Learning in Criminology and Justice	6 credits
	CRIM 4301	Community Advocacy and Human Rights	3 credits
	CRIM 4400	Ethics and Professional Development	3 credits
Students must complete at least 6 credits from the following courses in the Justice group:
	CRIM 3213	Community Corrections	3 credits
	CRIM 3307	Issues in Conflict Resolution	3 credits
	CRIM 4240	Indigenous Peoples and Justice	3 credits
Students must complete at least 6 credits from two or more of the following groups:
	Group A: Methods
	CRIM 3103	Quantitative Data Analysis II	3 credits
	CRIM 3115	Crime Mapping	3 credits
	CRIM 4410	Policy and Program Evaluation	3 credits
	Group B: Theory
	CRIM 3100	Advanced Theories of Crime and Community	3 credits
	CRIM 3111	Contemporary Sociological Criminology	3 credits
	CRIM 3113	Critical Criminology	3 credits
	CRIM 4112	Contemporary Psychological Criminology	3 credits
	Group C: Criminal Justice
	CRIM 3118	White-Collar and Corporate Crime	3 credits
	CRIM 3217	Women, Crime, and Justice	3 credits
	CRIM 3249	Issues in Youth Justice	3 credits
	CRIM 4201	Community Safety and Crime Prevention	3 credits
	CRIM 4235	Minorities and the Criminal Justice System	3 credits
	Group D: Law
	CRIM 3302	Procedure and Evidence	3 credits
	CRIM 3305	Law and Society	3 credits
	CRIM 3351	Philosophy of Law	3 credits
	CRIM 3512	Mental Disorder and Canadian Law	3 credits
	CRIM 4300	Administrative and Regulatory Law	3 credits
Students must complete at least 6 credits from the following courses in the Applied category:
	CRIM 4154	Community Criminal Justice Project I	3 credits
	CRIM 4155	Community Criminal Justice Project II	6 credits
	CRIM 4800	Practicum in Criminology and Justice	12 credits
Students also must complete an additional 9 credits of criminology electives and 12 credits selected from outside criminology in arts, science, or other areas (breadth requirements).
Students must complete at least 45 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level. Depending on course selection at the CRIM 4000 level, students might require additional upper-level courses as either CRIM electives or any other electives.

Honours

In addition to the 120 credits required for the Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice, students pursuing the Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice Honours degree must complete the following additional 12 credits of course-work:

	CRIM 5000	Honours Thesis I	3 credits
	CRIM 5010	Honours Seminar	3 credits
	CRIM 5020	Honours Thesis II	6 credits

Enrolment in Criminology Honours courses requires the permission of the Criminology Honours committee. In order to be considered for Honours courses, students normally must:

• have completed 90 credits or more at the time of application;
• achieve a CGPA of 3.5;
• and have completed CRIM 3104 and CRIM 4410.

Please see kpu.ca/arts/criminology for further information regarding application deadlines and selection criteria.

Students may receive either the Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice degree or the Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice Honours degree, but not both.

Co-operative Education

The BA in Community Criminology Justice is offered with a Co-operative Education option. Co-operative Education gives a student the opportunity to apply the skills gained during academic study in paid, practical work experience semesters. Degree students in the Co-op option are expected to complete a minimum of three work terms while completing their degree. Work terms generally occur full-time in separate 4 month work semesters but may also be available part-time over an 8 month continuous (parallel) placement. Work semesters alternate with academic study.

Students wishing to enter and participate in the Co-op Option must meet the following requirements:

Declaration/Entrance Requirements:

• Declaration into the BA in Community Criminal Justice
• Minimum GPA of 2.7

Program Continuance Requirements:

• Completion of COOP 1101 prior to 75 programs credits
• Minimum program GPA of 2.7
• Instructor permission

Co-op Requirements

The Co-operative Education designation requires successful completion of the following courses:

Required:
	COOP 1101	Job Search Techniques	1 credit
And all of:
	COOP 1150*	Co-op Work Semester 1	9 credits
	COOP 2150*	Co-op Work Semester 2	9 credits
	COOP 3150*	Co-op Work Semester 3	9 credits
Optional:
	COOP 4150*	Co-op Work Semester 4	9 credits

* Part-time (parallel) work terms may be taken over two semesters as COOP 1150A/1150B, COOP 2150A/2150B, COOP 3150A/3150B, or COOP 4150A/4150B respectively.

Additional requirements:

In addition to the requirements stated above, all Co-op students must satisfy the General Co-operative Education Requirements.

Credential Awarded

Upon successful completion of the Honours program, students are eligible to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice (Honours).

Upon successful completion of the degree program, students are eligible to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice.

Upon successful completion of the Co-operative Education Option in the degree program, students are eligible to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Community Criminal Justice (Co-operative Education Option).