Program Details

School of Business and Public Management
Academic Commons North 102
912-279-5852
Program Coordinator:
Cindy Atwood  279-5909
catwood@ccga.edu

Our nation faces enormous challenges in the increasingly complex and turbulent areas included in our system of criminal justice. As a nation, just within the past decade, the United States has witnessed the collapse of our financial markets, controversy over illegal immigration and border security, a resurgence of racial tensions, the continued scourge of illegal drugs on our society, and an increased understanding of the horrors of human trafficking.  As a nation, we have accepted the “new norms” associated with the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks including increased search and surveillance capabilities of law enforcement, and we have witnessed what some refer to as the “militarization” of law enforcement in the United States. The CCGA Criminal Justice major, housed in the School of Business and Public Management, is focused on the knowledge that each of these areas and many others are important to the education of today’s criminal justice students. It is our belief that our criminal justice students will be tomorrow’s law enforcement professionals as well as thought-leaders who will help shape public policy in municipalities and states, as well as domestically and internationally, for many years to come.

We encourage you to pursue the baccalaureate degree in Criminal Justice while pursuing a concentration in one of four distinct areas: Public Management, Homeland Security, Data and Information Analysis, or Information Assurance and Cyber Security at the College of Coastal Georgia. The strong combination of criminal justice with any of these concentrations will provide a thorough preparation for students as they pursue a career in the broad field of criminal justice.  In addition to the strength of our criminal justice courses, our criminal justice students benefit from our close partnership with the nearby Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC). Many of our criminal justice courses are taught by some of the finest law enforcement instructors in the nation. Additionally, CCGA’s criminal justice degree, which is housed in the School of Business and Public Management, will provide students with key management competencies and critical thinking skills, rare for baccalaureate degrees in criminal justice.

During the Freshman and Sophomore years, students pursuing the Bachelor of Science degree are required to complete 60 total credit hours: in the core curriculum in Areas A through F. In the Junior and Senior years, students generally are required to complete a 36 hour common core criminal justice curriculum, and 18 hour concentration, and 6 hours of directed electives. 

Students are strongly encouraged to see an advisor on the criminal justice faculty. Each concentration has its own Area F requirements and possible requirements of higher level mathematics.

Students may enroll in the BSCJ degree program at any time. Prior to enrolling in junior and senior level courses students generally have:

1. Earned a minimum of 60 credit hours in Area A-F including (A) Essential Skills, 9 hours; (B) Institutional Options, 4 hours; Humanities/Fine Arts, 6 hours; (D) Science and Math, 11 hours; (E) Social Sciences, 12 hours; and (F) Criminal Justice, 18 hours
2. A grade of C or better in all Area F courses and MATH 1001 or MATH 1111;
3. An institutional GPA of 2.0 or better
4. Meet all prerequisites for the courses in which they plan to enroll

Upon completion of all degree requirements, students complete 36 hours from a set of core courses that provide essential learning outcomes in one of four offered concentrations: homeland security, information assurance and cyber defense, public management or data and information analysis. Concentrations descriptions offered within the criminal justice curriculum are as follows:

• Public Management focuses primarily on the management of public sector organizations. For criminal justice students, the goal of this concentration is to develop skills required by individuals who manage criminal justice and security organizations and those who develop and evaluate policies. The public management concentration provides marketable management and leadership competencies that can be directly applied in the workplace, while instilling essential values to ensure students thrive upon graduation in their careers as public servants.
• Homeland Security provides a unique opportunity for students interested in focusing their studies on the vast areas included in the complex arena of homeland security. The focus of this concentration is to provide a comprehensive study of complex areas facing our nation such as immigration policy, border security, customs enforcement, cyber-crime, and the evaluation of public policies in these areas.
• Information assurance and Cyber Defense allows students to master essential skills in understanding network defense, database management systems, cyber-crime, cyber security, and security design and cryptography.
• Data and Information Analysis allows students to explore the criminal justice issues surrounding the idea of ‘big data’. Given massive collections of data, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify meaningful information. Students further develop their mathematical skills and their knowledge of statistical inference.

Click to hide the core curriculum and see only the program specific curriculum.