About
Department Profile
Faculty
The Department of Criminal Justice is in the College of Health and Human Sciences; it has 13 full-time faculty members whose appointment lines are in the Department. One faculty member holds an emeritus appointment. In addition, approximately 30 part-time instructors teach courses based on the needs of the department. This pool includes judges, police chiefs, investigators, planners, attorneys, agency and corporate executives, and others who bring their expertise to the classroom.
Students
The department has over 400 students in its Baccalaureate (B.S.) program, the largest in the College of Health and Human Sciences, and over 40 students in its Masters program (M.S.). A Ph.D. degree program in criminal justice is currently in the planning stages. The department's student body represents the vibrant diversity of Georgia State University (over half of our majors are females and over half are African-Americans).
Alumni
For more than 35 years, as part of the College of Health and Human Sciences and its predecessor units (College of Public and Urban Affairs, College of Urban Life) the Department has produced 2,907 graduates: of these, 2,558 alumni acquired Baccalaureate degrees and 349 alumni acquired Masters degrees. Over 80 percent of the alumni are currently living and working in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Internship
Central to the educational experience of a criminal justice major is the opportunity to compare theory and knowledge acquired in the classroom with practical experience and understanding in an agency of the justice system. All majors enroll in an internship program during the last semester of their senior year. There are currently over 100 agencies that offer internship opportunities for our students. Participating agencies include federal, state, county, municipal, and some private sector organizations that deal with all aspects of criminal justice including police, courts, law, corrections, juvenile justice, and security. The Internship coordinator is Dr. Sue Collins.
Departmental Philosophy
The Department is dedicated to responding to all three components of higher education values by: (1) providing quality education to its students, (2) producing quality research and publications, and (3) offering quality public service. The Department lives up to its motto of "exploring opportunities of knowledge and practice" by carefully balancing and mixing these three components. It maintains very close ties with criminal justice and other agencies in the community and is highly responsive to their needs. Instruction and practice are woven together, and research is conducted with careful observance of scientific principles with an eye for practical use.
Scholarship
The faculty are actively engaged in research and the production of scholarly publications. In the last few years the faculty have produced numerous books, articles, and research reports. Several of these cutting-edge publications have been cited as models and have won national awards. The reputation of the faculty is well-known in the State of Georgia and the nation. Some of the faculty are also well known and respected internationally. The Department publishes two scientific journals, the Criminal Justice Review and the International Criminal Justice Review.
Public Service
The Department partners with many local, state, and federal agencies as well as some private organizations to offer its expertise and services. The faculty are actively engaged in various aspects of public service as board members, consultants, and advisors to a wide range of public and private agencies, and special projects, locally and nationally. The following are highlights of services offered and of special professional relationships:
- Position papers on crime for gubernatorial and mayoral races; Atlanta 911 commission report; assessment of the state's crime lab needs for the 21st century; processing of cases in Atlanta's Municipal Court.
- Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games; Atlanta Police Department; Atlanta Regional Commission; British Police; Central Atlanta Progress; Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police; Georgia Bureau of Investigation; Georgia Crime Information Center; Georgia Department of Corrections; Georgia Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council; Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council; Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles; Georgia Sheriffs Association; Georgia Supreme Court; Governor's Criminal Justice Coordinating Council; Hungarian National Police; Israel Police; Metropolitan Atlanta Transit Authority (MARTA); Metropolitan Atlanta Crime Commission; People's Republic of China Police; Republic of China Police; The Atlanta Project; numerous police and sheriff's departments in Georgia and out of state.
