Dec 03, 2024  
2024-2025 Catalog with Addendum 
    
2024-2025 Catalog with Addendum

Criminal Justice, AA

Location(s): Central Campus, Selected Dual Credit Sites


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Trained and educated law enforcement, correctional, probation and parole officers play important roles in serving and protecting citizens. Our degree is also a great start for anyone wishing to become a lawyer, as it introduces students into the world of criminal justice.

Our Associate of Art degree in Criminal Justice is designed for those wishing to major in criminal justice and later obtain their bachelor’s degree. We provide you with a theoretical and practical understanding of the American Criminal Justice System by teaching the complex aspects of crime and criminal justice.

Our faculty members include former police officers, federal law enforcement officers, police chiefs, crime scene investigators, homicide detectives and attorneys; with a combined 200 years of real-word Criminal Justice experience! If you are looking for a career field that can both change your life and the lives of others, come join the TJC Criminal Justice program.

Marketable skills for this award include: critical thinking, interpersonal skills, problem solving, strong work ethic, verbal communication skills and written communication skills.

 

Associate of Arts - (Includes Field of Study Courses)
TSI Complete

Discipline-Specific Core Course: 3 Credits


Discipline Foundation Courses: 12 Credits


Directed Electives: minimum of 4 Credits


Select one to two courses from the following:

If only selecting one course above, select one course from the following:


Any course listed in the Course Descriptions that has a Course Designation of: Academic Transfer. For a list of those courses, click here.

TJC Core Curriculum: 41 Credits


In addition to Major Courses, the student is required to take 44 credit hours from the TJC Core Curriculum . These courses must not duplicate courses taken to fulfill Major Courses requirements, except for CRIJ 1301 - Introduction to Criminal Justice  which is the required course for the Social and Behavioral Sciences Core Curriculum requirement. Since its credit hours are counted in the Discipline-Specific Core Course section above, only 41 credit hours are counted here.

Total Semester Hours: 60


Discipline-Specific Core Course: 3
Discipline Foundation Courses: 12
Directed Electives: minimum of 4
TJC Core Curriculum: 41

Recommended Course Sequence:


First Semester


Second Semester


Third Semester


Fourth Semester


Total Semester Hours: 60


Note:

  1. # CRIJ 1301  is the required Social and Behavioral Sciences Core Curriculum course and is the THECB’s Discipline-Specific Core Course for the Field of Study (AA) degree.
  2. *Recommended Core Curriculum course. Other Core Curriculum courses may satisfy this requirement.
  3. **Select any number of elective hours needed to bring the total semester hours to no fewer than 60. Criminal Justice majors wishing to seek employment in either Probation or Parole are encouraged to take CRIJ 1307 , CRIJ 1313 , or CRIJ 2301  as their elective. Majors wishing to seek employment in a Law Enforcement-related field are encouraged to take either CRIJ 2314  or CRIJ 2323  as their elective. Students may choose to take a second CRIJ elective to fulfill the second elective course to fulfill the degree requirements.
  4. All Criminal Justice majors transferring to a university to seek a baccalaureate degree in Criminal Justice should see an academic or faculty advisor as soon as possible to develop a degree plan. Students are strongly encouraged to check senior college degree requirements, as well as work closely with their academic or faculty advisor at TJC and the university which they plan to transfer to. University requirements differ regarding the approved Criminal Justice electives they will honor.

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