Minor in Criminal Justice

Overview

Criminal justice studies at ACU trains the next generation of law enforcement leaders to live out their calling to law enforcement, grounded in the biblical worldview and ethics, equipped with skills and knowledge for professional success, and ready to enter one of the fastest growing career fields in the country. Classes are taught by experienced active-duty law enforcement personnel, who guide students through rigorous coursework that combines criminal justice theory and scholarship, with practical, hands-on training. Our criminal justice faculty are not only teachers, they are mentors who help students combine their passion for law enforcement with excellent training and the benefit of their experience. Our unique criminal justice coursework grounds students in the biblical worldview, while training them in biblical ethics and challenging them to live out their faith with compassion and God’s truth in the criminal justice profession.

The Criminal Justice minor requires a minimum of 18 credit hours of criminal justice course work that prepares students for a career that keeps pace with this dynamic field, whether in law enforcement and community policing, careers in law and legal work, or work in public policymaking or serving in government.

Why Criminal Justice at ACU?

In addition to a faculty to student ratio of 17:1 and a rigorous and biblically-integrated curriculum, ACU’s Criminal Justice program offers several unique advantages.

• The ACU Criminal Justice minor prepares you to transform law enforcement and the American legal system with God’s Truth.
• Develop, formalize, and integrate the biblical worldview into all aspects of government, law enforcement, criminal justice, and politics.
• ACU digs deeply into the idea of American Exceptionalism and what makes our nation’s history, institutions, political culture and ideas ‒ especially liberty, limited government, the free market, our justice system, and constitutionalism ‒ unique.
• Criminal Justice coursework is built on a foundation of biblical worldview understanding and ethics.
• You will be uniquely prepared to take your faith into the law enforcement profession.
• Coursework emphasizes the origins and importance of the rule of law within the American justice system.
• Throughout the minor, you’ll deeply explore the intersection of faith, the biblical worldview and law enforcement, historically, in the contemporary context, and in future careers.
• The program emphasizes strategic, practical equipping of students for effective citizenship, public-minded service, and positions of influence in politics, law, public policy, and other related areas.

What will I study?

The Criminal Justice program provides a biblical liberal arts foundation with an innovative approach to general studies that reclaims a Christian conception of the Liberal Arts, preparing students to be influential thinkers. Career-related Coursework focus areas will include:

• Introduction to Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Criminal Law and Procedures
• Homeland Security
• Criminal Justice Ethics
• Faith and the Criminal Justice Profession