Penn College Offers Minor in Criminal Justice

Published 09.11.2012

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Human Services & Restorative Justice
School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications News

A new minor in criminal justice at Pennsylvania College of Technology will help to prepare students who may enter careers working in conjunction with the law-enforcement system.

The minor, available this fall, focuses primarily on students in the college’s applied human services major but is available to any student pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the college (except legal assistant/paralegal studies).



Employees in the human services sector often interact with law-enforcement agencies. Some graduates of the applied human services major become probation and parole officers, while others might work as social services caseworkers, child protective services workers, drug and alcohol counselors, youth development coordinators or shelter workers, among others.

Probation and parole officers are an important link in criminal justice and reintegrating people who have been adjudicated in the criminal justice system back into “real life.” They cross the line between police and human service caseworker.

Even those working in other human-services roles will often be impacted by the criminal-justice system.

“Unfortunately, law enforcement is often the first point of contact for providing care for a problem,” said Clifford P. Coppersmith, dean of integrated studies.

The minor in criminal justice includes required courses in Legal Research and Writing and Criminal Law and Procedures and such electives as Interviewing, Counseling, Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution; Constitutional Law; Abnormal Psychology; Criminology; and Introduction to Forensic Science, which covers crime-scene management procedures.

“Criminal justice is another mutlidisciplinary, multischool approach to providing new options for our students,” Coppersmith said.

Students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in human services at Penn College may also minor in sociology or psychology.

To learn more about human services or other academic programs offered by the School of Integrated Studies at Penn College, call 570-327-4521.

For more about the college, email the Admissions Office or call toll-free 800-367-9222.