Lakeland College

About Criminal Justice

Sheriff Helmke speaks with
new ACJA Lakeland students.

What is crime? What causes it? What should we do about it?

Lakeland's criminal justice program addresses these questions from both practical and theoretical perspectives and combines the analytical and research skills of sociology with a clear vocational emphasis. In criminal justice classes, students learn the details of the correctional and law enforcement systems, from police procedures to community relations. Students are asked to think about the nature of criminal behavior and the ways we have chosen as a society to address it.

Courses focus on the measurement of crime, the analysis and prevention of criminal behavior, and the function of the rule of law in society. Students gain the knowledge and problem-solving abilities they need to pursue graduate study or begin a career in probation/parole, law enforcement, corrections, and related areas of our country's expanding criminal justice system.

Students who major in Criminal Justice will be able to:

• understand the structure, function, and history of our criminal justice and judicial systems;
• comprehend and employ appropriate and up-to-date methods in various areas of crime prevention and control;
• conduct social research appropriate to the field of sociology and criminology, including statistical evaluation of the findings from quantitative measures; and
• analyze social and criminological theories and analyze and critique the criminal justice system.