Criminal Justice Department

Criminal justice deals with how laws are made, applied, and enforced, and the policies and goals that inspire those laws and for whose accomplishment the laws are a vehicle.

It deals with public service and public institutions that are a part of the enterprise of maintaining order in society and, to an increasing extent, responsible for distributing entitlements to the public. The goal of criminal justice is to examine the way this public enterprise does — and should — interact with its constituents.

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SUNY Oswego Criminal Justice & Corrections Program Is a Great Value According to 2019 Rankings

Our program

The criminal justice major at SUNY Oswego is a multidisciplinary liberal arts program with special emphasis in the social and behavioral sciences combined with specialized in-depth research and supervised fieldwork experience. Areas of study include administration of justice, corrections, court and judicial administration, juvenile delinquency, law enforcement, probation, parole, community-based rehabilitation programs, private security, and pre-law. Our faculty bring a wide variety of experience, research interests, and teaching methods that make this a strong, vibrant, and interesting area of study.

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Real experience

The criminal justice optional internship opportunity gives students a valuable opportunity to gain practical experience in an occupation of interest, to make professional contacts and to prepare for their future careers locally and nationally. During internship students relate theory they have learned in their course work to the way things “really work” in the field. Several of our students have had their research presented during QUEST Day, won Dean's Writing Awards, and had their research submitted to professional publications.

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Career paths

Our program prepares you for multiple career options in human services and community rehabilitation programs, court, law and government administration, and  law enforcement, investigative, and corrections fields.

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