Bachelor of Professional Arts, Criminal Justice Major - Learning outcomes

Graduates from the Bachelor of Professional Arts-Criminal Justice (BPA-CRJS) program should:

• Understand core criminal justice system components, including policing, law, and corrections.
• Identify and propose solutions to challenges facing existing criminal justice policies, processes, and programs, such as youth justice, correctional treatment, risk/needs assessment, and sentencing.
• Examine and analyze the impacts and responses to issues of diversity and systemic discrimination in the criminal justice system.
• Develop and apply a strong ethical foundation in criminal justice research and work.
• Understand disciplinary (e.g., criminology, psychology, sociology) theoretical contributions to criminal justice research, policies, programs, and practices, such as theories of correctional treatment, policing, justice, punishment, crime, and social deviance.
• Evaluate and analyze criminal justice research, policies, and practices, including the quality and theoretical/empirical limitations of research.

Program goals

This program is intended to attract not only newly graduated diploma students but also those with several years of experience. The general program goals are to

• provide graduates with the critical-thinking skills, administrative skills, and advanced education in areas such as community policing, cross-cultural awareness, the environment, organized crime, managing family violence, and law and policing that are needed by police, corrections, security and other enforcement officers.
• afford increased areas of employment and advancement in the criminal justice field for police officers, corrections officers, court officers and private security officers.

Possible career options

• Police Officer
• Customs Officer
• Canadian Intelligence Officer
• Military Police Officer
• Correctional Officer
• Parole Officer
• Probation Officer
• Crime Analyst
• Policy Analyst (provincial and federal solicitor general departments)
• Private/Corporate Investigator
• Youth Worker (young offenders)
• Special Constable (solicitor general/justice/municipal departments)