Mission and Goals
The mission of the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State College of Denver is to engage students in the scientific study of crime, criminality, other forms of social deviance, and the official response to crime by law enforcement, the criminal courts and the correctional system. To that end, the department seeks to address the special needs of adult learners and to prepare them to move into criminal justice careers or post graduate work as liberally educated, intellectually mature, ethically aware, and culturally sensitive people. The degree will provide students with knowledge of, and the ability to analyze the nature and causes of crime, criminal processes, criminal justice organizations and the agency practices, as well as the law and the legal system. Moreover, the education requires students to examine critically the broad questions of how justice is administered in American society.
Department Educational Goals:
Goal One: Define the relationship and operation of the major components of the criminal justice system and the political and socioeconomic environment in which it operates.
Goal Two: Identify agencies, programs, policies and employee skills that affect crime, crime detection, crime prevention, victims of crime, offenders, and quality of life in the community.
Goal Three: Identify, analyze, and evaluate the legal concepts and principles of law within the criminal justice system. Define how the structure of the United States government and the U.S. Constitution affects the operation of the criminal justice system.
Goal Four: Define and describe organizational behavior of criminal justice and related agencies, apply management skills to solving problems, and recognize the impact of policy and organizational change on various parts of the criminal justice system. Recognize and apply effective leadership skills.
Goal Five: Identify the effects of the criminal justice system on the lives of individuals, communities, and the challenges of diversity as these relate to criminal justice practitioners in a free society.
Goal Six: Critically analyze events, information, programs, and concepts, and apply this to the operation of criminal justice agencies in the United States and, as appropriate, to other countries.
Goal Seven: Identify, describe, and apply theories of crime causation.
Goal Eight: Communicate effective, orally and in writing and demonstrate basic knowledge of information technology, as applied to criminal justice research.