Criminal Justice

General Information

Since the 1960s, America's criminal justice system has undergone a significant shift in operating philosophy and sophistication. Traditionally the system was reactive, i.e., only after a crime was committed did the police respond to the harm. Also, criminal justice practices were not subjected to rigorous scrutiny to determine whether they were effective in preventing crime or recidivism. Now, however, thanks to increased funding for education, research, and evaluation initiated by the 1967 President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, we have a greater understanding of crime, its causes, and criminal justice practices. With this increased knowledge, today's criminal justice professionals are increasingly expected to work collaboratively with the community in identifying, designing, implementing, and evaluating programs to prevent crime and reduce recidivism.

In order to fulfill these expectations, criminal justice professionals need to have greater computer literacy, possess more developed critical thinking skills, be more resourceful problem solvers, and be familiar with criminal justice literature and research. York College's Criminal Justice program is designed to provide students with these skills. Specifically, the curriculum insures that through the study of crime and the operational policies and practices of criminal, juvenile, and private agencies that respond to crime, that students will become familiar with social science theory and will acquire applied and theoretical knowledge appropriate for a beginning professional, including the ability to apply computer skills to criminal justice problems. In addition, because criminal justice officials regularly interact with mental health, human services, and children and youth services agencies in the performance of their duties, students will take courses in psychology, sociology, and other related academic disciplines to help prepare them for these responsibilities. Students may, after completion of the comprehensive core, specialize in the fields of law enforcement, corrections, criminalistics, asset protection, or juvenile justice.

Mission and Objectives

The mission of the criminal justice program is to develop informed citizens who are appreciative of the role of the criminal justice system in a democracy. The program focuses on the development of collaborative problem solvers and agents of change knowledgeable about the criminal justice system and the causes, consequences, and responses to crime. Graduating students will be prepared for professional careers in criminal justice and related fields and graduate study.

The program accomplishes this by:

1) providing a broad understanding and comprehensive overview of the criminal and juvenile justice systems

2) promoting informed inquiry by critically examining the administration of justice in the United States and the etiology of crime and delinquency

3) developing fundamental skills in research methodology and statistical analysis

4) providing opportunities and information for career exploration and preparing students

for the transition from the academic environment to their chosen professional field or graduate study

5) fostering the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and collaborative abilities and enhancing oral and written communication skills

Career Opportunities

Considerable opportunities for employment in the criminal justice field exist - especially for those best prepared. Since crime is always present in society and public fear of crime remains high, it is anticipated that employment in criminal justice related fields will continue to be favorable. Careers in asset protection and correctional services, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, especially are expected to rise faster than average.

Career opportunities generally fall into five major fields: law enforcement, the judicial system, corrections, forensics, and asset protection/private security. Within these fields, employment opportunities exist at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Also, increasingly there are many opportunities within the private sector, both private for profit and nonprofit.

Some of the federal law enforcement careers include: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Secret Service; Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF); Marshall Service; Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA); Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP); Fish and Wildlife; Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); Inspector General; Park Police; Postal Service; Office of Federal Investigations; and Special Agent of the investigative services of the military branches.

State and local policing careers include: municipal police officer, deputy sheriff, county police officer, detective, criminal investigator, state police officer/trooper, and crime analyst.

Careers in the judicial system include: attorney (prosecutor and public defender), court administrator, judge, victim-witness coordinator, domestic violence counselor, paralegal, pretrial services officer, mediator, researcher, and crisis counselor.

Careers in corrections include: probation and parole officer (juvenile and adult), correctional caseworker, community residential center counselor, correctional treatment specialist, corrections counselor, correctional officer, and warden. Related corrections occupations include: clinical psychologist, and classification and treatment director.

Forensic careers include crime scene technician and criminalistics laboratory specialist.

Asset protection/security careers are available in a vast array of specialized areas such as retail, healthcare, campus, nuclear, transportation, contract services, hospitality, manufacturing, and government. Beyond the position of security officer, there are numerous career opportunities: private investigator, corporate investigator, claims examiner, security supervisor, fraud examiner, personal protection specialist, safety and security director, training instructor, investigations manager, security sales manager, asset protection manager, consultant, loss prevention specialist, and special investigator.

Careers in research and analysis include: intelligence research specialist, social science research analyst, crime analyst, program analyst, criminal justice system planner, and geographic information systems specialist (crime mapping specialist).

Internships

Because the criminal justice faculty believe that experiential learning/internships are invaluable, students are required as part of the criminal justice core curriculum to complete such an experience prior to graduation. Experiential learning experiences provide the student with an opportunity to derive a realistic and practical view of the system that cannot be gained from textbooks or the classroom. Students have participated in a variety of placements locally, regionally, and nationally - adult and juvenile probation and parole, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, juvenile and adult detention facilities, community based probations, law-related settings (law firms, attorney general, district attorney, public defender, court administrator), commercial asset protection/private security, crime laboratories, and counseling/assistance organizations. The program also maintains close ties with many local organizations that provide services to crime victims, juveniles, and others in the local community and can facilitate volunteer placement with the organizations to enable students to gain valuable career experience, and often, specialized training. Students are eligible for placement once they have successfully completed 60 semester hours and have a 2.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale.

Extra-Curricular Activities

In addition to the wealth of opportunities provided by the College, a variety of extra-curricular opportunities related to the criminal justice field exist within the program and the College. Criminal justice faculty members strongly believe that these opportunities, combined with classroom and internship experiences, allow students to develop both personally and professionally.

Student Organizations

A local chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, a national criminal justice honor society, exists at York College. The organization recognizes and promotes academic excellence and is committed to the professional growth of its members. Students may join if they meet certain eligibility requirements including achievement of a 3.2 GPA overall and a 3.2 GPA within the criminal justice major. Students also have the opportunity to join the York College Chapter of the American Criminal Justice Association. Members regularly engage in a variety of educational and recreational activities including brown-bag discussions, leadership retreats, field trips, and volunteer services. All students are encouraged to join.

Faculty/Student Research

A number of opportunities are available to work with individual faculty members on research-related projects. In the past, students have helped faculty members study determinants of fear of crime and satisfaction with police, evaluate date rape prevention programs, organize career days, conduct community surveys, and complete other projects. Some of these projects have resulted in publications or presentations. Students wishing to work on projects as they become available should express their interest to individual faculty members.

Presentation and Publication Opportunities

In recent years, criminal justice students have authored or coauthored papers presented at national meetings such as the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, ASIS International, as well as regional meetings such as the Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences and the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Justice Educators. Student work is also displayed during the Annual Student Scholars Week and published in journals and in online resource libraries.

Training and Certifications

Students are encouraged to take advantage of training and certification programs offered by the International Foundation of Protection Officers such as the Certified Protection Officer (CPO) and the Certified in Security Supervision and Management (CSSM), and Crime and Loss Investigation programs. Other noncredit courses are held on campus periodically. Past courses included Report Writing, Defensive Tactics, Pepper-Spray (OCAT), Handcuffing, Crowd Management, Interviewing, and Terrorism in the U.S.

Department of Public Safety

York College's Department of Public Safety hires students on a part-time basis to assist in ensuring the safety of the College campus. Criminal justice students benefit from the extensive training and experiences provided by such work.

Special Facilities

The criminal justice program offers a minor in criminalistics for those students desiring to specialize in this field. York College has its own forensic laboratory on campus and offers courses including Introduction to Criminalistics, Arson and Bomb Investigation, Death Investigation, Criminal Investigations, and Crime Scene Processing.

Students who plan to pursue forensic laboratory careers are advised to double major in criminal justice and either biology, chemistry, physics, or forensic chemistry, or major in one of the sciences and minor in criminalistics.

Courses Offered

Introduction to Criminal Justice
Introduction to Security and Asset Protection
Juvenile Delinquency
Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice Research Methods I
Criminal Justice Research Methods II
Criminal Law
Gender and Crime
Legal Standards of Asset Protection
Criminal Investigation
Victimology
Crime Prevention and Physical Security
Arson and Bomb Investigation
Policing in America
Judicial Process
Punishment and Corrections
Community Based Corrections
Juvenile Justice
Comparative Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice Experiential Learning
Crime Scene Processing
Policing Communities
Special Topics in Criminal Justice
White Collar Crime
Death Investigation
Security Planning and Supervision
Conflict Analysis and Management
Substance Abuse and Criminal Justice System
Independent Study
Senior Seminar

INTERNSHIPS

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Student Organizations

Faculty/Student Research

Presentation and Publication Opportunities

Training and Certifications

Department of Public Safety

York College's Department of Public Safety hires students on a part-time basis to assist in ensuring the safety of the College campus. Criminal justice students benefit from the

extensive training and experiences provided by such work.

FACULTY

Full-Time Faculty Members

Jennifer Dierickx, Ph.D., Candidate in Sociolgy, Wayne State University, M.A., Northern Illinois University. Professor Dierickx teaches Policing in America, Policing Communities, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Gender and Crime, and Senior Seminar. Her research interests include police practices, ethnomethodology, and criminological theory.

Barbara Hanbury, Ph.D., M.A., University of Maryland. Dr. Hanbury has considerable prior experience with the United States Sentencing Commission and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She teaches Juvenile Delinquency, Punishment and Corrections, Victimology, and Death Investigation. Her research interests include sentencing and gender disparity within the Federal system, deaths while in custody, and consulting in forensic cases.

Christopher Hertig, M.A., Indiana State University of Pennsylvania. Professor Hertig is also a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) and Certified Protection Officer Instructor (CPOI). He teaches Security and Asset Protection, Criminal Investigation, and Ethics in Criminal Justice courses. He also teaches and coordinates a variety of noncredit courses through the College's Special Programs Office. Mr. Hertig has published extensively and is actively involved in both writing and editing. His research interests include the historical development of police, security and investigative organizations, use of force, crisis intervention, and training and recruitment of security personnel.

Eric Ling, Ph.D., M.A., The Ohio State University. Dr. Ling has prior experience in England working with young offenders and children-at-risk. He has taught a variety of Criminal Justice courses including Introduction to Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice and Juvenile Delinquency, Policing, Research Methods, Theories of Crime and Delinquency, White Collar Crime, and Senior Seminar. His research interests include criminal justice processes relating to those with developmental disabilities, and perceptions of crime causation and delinquency.

Philip J. Verrecchia, Ph.D., Marywood University,

M.S. Shippensburg University. Dr. Verrecchia, a former juvenile probation officer, is the Coordinator of the Criminal Justice program. He teaches Research Methods I and II, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Juvenile Justice, and Juvenile Delinquency. His research interests include the transfer of juvenile offenders to criminal court, restorative justice, maltreatment and delinquency, and gender issues in criminal justice.

Gary W. Willis, J.D., Stetson University College of Law; M.A., Appalachian State University. Dr. Willis teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Introduction to Criminal Justice, Comparative Criminal Justice, and Experiential Learning in Criminal Justice. His research interests focus on law enforcement eyewitness identification procedures, comparative pretrial investigation procedures, and post-trial preservation of DNA evidence.

Sherry Brown, M.S., University of Pittsburgh. Ms. Brown is the Forensic Chemistry & Criminalistics Program Coordinator. She teaches the criminalistic courses in the program. Ms. Brown is also a forensics consultant.

Adjunct Faculty Members

Marilou V. Erb, J.D., Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Calvin College; M.A., Michigan State University; Mrs. Erb teaches courses in Substance Abuse and the Criminal Justice System, Introduction to Criminal Justice, and Conflict Analysis and Management. She is a law clerk for the Honorable Michael J. Brillhart, York County Court of Common Pleas, York, PA.

Daniel Rhoads, M.A., Shippensburg University. Mr. Rhoads teaches courses in Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice. He is the director of Juvenile Probation, York, PA.

George Swartz, M.S., Villanova University. Mr. Swartz teaches Policing in America. He is the Chief of Police with the Spring Garden Township Police Department, York, PA.

Academics

Criminal Justice