Criminalistics Minor
The Department of Justice, Law, and Security, in coordination with the departments of Biology and Chemistry, offers a Minor in Criminalistics. This minor will be offered to those who have demonstrated proficiency in the forensic application of the sciences of Biology and Chemistry. This forensic application entails a basic understanding and demonstrated knowledge of selected subject matter areas of the Criminal Justice System.
Students must have a declared major in one of Biology, Chemistry, or Criminal Justice & Criminology. Students not in one of those majors with an interest in criminal justice should consider the Criminal Justice minor.
There are two tracks for the minor. One for Biology and Chemistry majors (16 credits), and a second for Criminal Justice & Criminology majors (15 credits).
Summary of Requirements
Criminalistics Minor Track 1: For Biology & Chemistry Majors: 16 credits
CRIM1001INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This introductory course will introduce criminal justice as a system that is an institutional agent of American society. The components of police, courts, and corrections are discussed with the goal of defining their function and purpose and interdependence on one another. The patterns of crime and the processes of the American Criminal Justice System, law enforcement, judicial process, and corrections will be examined. Students will learn the terminology of the field, examine the methods of inquiry used in the field, and learn the objectives, policies and procedures of probation, parole, and prisons as well as some of the issues and problems.
CRIM3005CONSTITUTIONAL LAW (POLI3005)
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will explore the difficulty in interpreting the meaning of constitutional language. The interpretive role of the U.S. Supreme Court will be studied through an examination of landmark constitutional decisions. The major schools of thought that guide interpretation will also be studied. Cross-listed with POLI3005.(Previously CRIM2005)
PREREQUISITES:
ENGL1012 and CRIM1003
CRIM3040CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION AND FORENSICS
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course introduces the student to basic and advanced procedures employed by crime scene investigators, with the emphasis on the detection, collection, processing and presentation of physical and testimonial evidence. The course also identifies items commonly found at crime scenes and examines their significance as trace and physical evidence used to link a suspect with a crime. Many aspects of the legal and scientific processing, preserving and documenting a crime scene for court presentation will be examined. Theories of information, observation and interrogation as they relate to crime scene investigation will be examined, as well as the ethics of current investigative procedures utilized by modern law enforcement agencies.
CRIM3041CSI II - CRIMINALISTICS
Credits (Min/Max): 4/4
A comprehensive examination of the application of science to the physical evidence of a crime. Crime scene processing procedures will be linked to the laboratory analysis of physical evidence. The course will also include training in scientific report writing and courtroom testimony, to include a moot court exercise.
PREREQUISITES:
CRIM1001 & BIOL1004 & CHEM1002
CRIM3045CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course covers the fundamentals of criminal investigation. It concentrates on the essentials of securing a crime scene, modus operandi of perpetrators, sources of information, principles of careful observation and recording interview/interrogation and case preparation.
Criminalistics Minor Track 2: For Criminal Justice Majors: 15 credits
BIOL1003GENERAL BIOLOGY I
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
A presentation of a comprehensive survey of the major area within modern biology with emphasis placed on unsolved problems and the nature of scientific evidence. The course explores the properties of living matter on the molecular, cellular and organismic level. Open to all science majors and non-science majors with a strong interest in biology or a professional need.
PREREQUISITES:
Concurrent: BIOL1005
BIOL1005GENERAL BIOLOGY I - LAB
Credits (Min/Max): 1/1
Selected experiments chosen to emphasize principles presented in the General Biology lecture courses.
PREREQUISITES:
coreg: BIOL1003
CHEM1001GENERAL CHEMISTRY I
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
A study of the basic principles governing matter, energy and matter-energy interaction. Topics include atomic structure, bonding theory, aggregated states of matter, stoichiometry, thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, chemical equilibrium and electrochemistry.
PREREQUISITES:
Concurrent: CHEM1003
CHEM1003GENERAL CHEMISTRY I - LAB
Credits (Min/Max): 1/1
A series of experiments related to the content of CHEM1001 emphasizing laboratory techniques and familiarization with basic laboratory equipment. Open to all science majors and non-science majors with a strong interest in chemistry or a professional need.
CRIM3040CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION AND FORENSICS
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course introduces the student to basic and advanced procedures employed by crime scene investigators, with the emphasis on the detection, collection, processing and presentation of physical and testimonial evidence. The course also identifies items commonly found at crime scenes and examines their significance as trace and physical evidence used to link a suspect with a crime. Many aspects of the legal and scientific processing, preserving and documenting a crime scene for court presentation will be examined. Theories of information, observation and interrogation as they relate to crime scene investigation will be examined, as well as the ethics of current investigative procedures utilized by modern law enforcement agencies.
CRIM3041CSI II - CRIMINALISTICS
Credits (Min/Max): 4/4
A comprehensive examination of the application of science to the physical evidence of a crime. Crime scene processing procedures will be linked to the laboratory analysis of physical evidence. The course will also include training in scientific report writing and courtroom testimony, to include a moot court exercise.
PREREQUISITES:
CRIM1001 & BIOL1004 & CHEM1002