Professor: Vivian Asesye Djokotoe, Misty Weitzel

Associate professors: Miyuki Arimoto, Omar Melchor Ayala, Mari Sakiyama, Taryn VanderPyl

Mission

The Criminal Justice Sciences Division at WOU utilizes a strong liberal arts tradition to provide students with a mastery of the complete picture of crime as a social problem, providing the skills necessary to ensure the understanding of sound solutions for preventing and addressing crime at all levels of society. We seek to equip our students with a sound scientific background and excellent preparation in content areas in courts, corrections, law enforcement, community crime prevention, juvenile justice, forensic anthropology, homeland security, and to provide options for interdisciplinary education.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Explain and analyze the role of each component of the criminal justice field and how they relate to each other
2. Apply basic theories and practices in entry-level positions in criminal justice or related fields
3. Identify and critically examine issues important to criminal justice at the local, state and federal levels
4. Analyze and articulate the impact of race and other forms of societal marginalization on the fair application of justice in a diverse society

The minor in Criminal Justice is tailored towards the conceptual, rather than the more technical aspects of the discipline, and is aimed at providing students pursuing other related disciplines, and wish to supplement or enhance their current major with a substantive understanding of the Criminal Justice System if such students have a desire of applying their degrees in settings where they work with populations within the Criminal Justice System as part of their career goals.