BA in Criminal Justice
The Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice program examines the historical development of criminal justice and its evolution into modern legal systems. Through interactive classes and practical seminars, students analyze how different forms of criminal justice affect individuals and society. All students complete a Senior Capstone (either research or an applied experience)* drawing on GW’s unique proximity to a wide array of advocacy organizations, government agencies and think tanks.
As the department’s most popular major, the BA in Criminal Justice brings together a diverse group of students with varying interests. Many pair the major with minors or combined majors in political science, history and psychology, or use it as a foundation to pursue advanced criminology degrees or law.
Senior Capstone for Criminal Justice Majors*
All Criminal Justice majors are required to complete ONE of the Senior Capstone options below.
OPTION 1: SENIOR RESEARCH SEMINAR (SOC 4195W, 3 credits)
The Senior Research Seminar offers students the opportunity to develop and complete a senior research thesis. The course meets once a week and satisfies both a WID and a GPAC Oral Communication requirement.
OPTION 2: CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN THE FIELD (SOC 4196, 3 credits)
This course combines a weekly classroom seminar with an applied experience (see detailed guidance below). The applied experience may be a new position or a continuation of an existing job or internship, may be paid or unpaid, must be for a minimum of 8 hours a week, and must be in place by the time the semester begins.
*This requirement changed in Academic Year 2024-25. For more information, consult the FAQ page below or speak to the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
Guidance for Applied Experiences
- Sites for SOC 4196 must be off campus, in an agency or organization that deals specifically with criminal justice issues. If the agency works on non-criminal justice issues, do not work there.
- The applied experience must involve work that enables the intern to learn a substantial amount about criminal justice. The work should not include filing, copying or other clerical work.
- Must be an organization that works with offenders, victims or the criminal justice system. Alternatively, the organization should deal with criminal justice issues, including policy issues. Interning at a law firm is not allowed because they typically assign interns menial work.
- Although the applied experiences may deal with the criminal justice system from many perspectives (e.g., reform, challenge, within the system, victims, policing, courts, punishment), they cannot be focused on civil law, electoral politics, social service provisions, or other issues that do not center crime, criminal law and criminal systems.
- Before taking SOC 4196, students must have completed either:
- SOC 2145 (Criminal Law) or
- SOC 2143 (CJ System Arrest through Appeal)
- CJ majors may take SOC 4196 in their Junior or Senior year.
- SOC 4196 will meet once a week and satisfy the GPAC Oral Communication requirement.
Students are not required to choose an applied experience site from this list, but most do.
- U.S. Federal Departments
- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Justice
- Department of Justice, Criminal Division
- Drug Enforcement Administration
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
- Naval Criminal Investigative Service
- United States Park Police
- Secret Service
- United States Sentencing Commission
- U.S. Marshals Service
- Law Enforcement
- Alexandria Police Department
- Alexandria Sheriff’s Office
- Arlington County Police Department*
- Arlington County Sheriff's Department
- D.C. Office of Police Complaints*
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
- INTERPOL criminal justice positions — avoid the General Counsel office
- Metropolitan Police Department
- Metropolitan Police Department, Sexual Assault Unit
- Prince George’s County Police Department
- Research and Associations
- Courts
- Arlington County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court
- D.C. Office of the Attorney General
- D.C. Superior Court
- Fairfax County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court
- Montgomery County State's Attorney
- Office of Research and Evaluation of Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA)
- Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia Criminal Law Internship Program*
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Other Groups
- American Bar Association
- The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
- Criminal Justice Policy Foundation*
- D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence*
- D.C. Prisoners Legal Service Project*
- D.C. Prisoners' Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs*
- D.C. Rape Crisis Center
- Death Penalty Information Center
- Drug Policy Alliance*
- Equal Justice USA
- Families Against Mandatory Minimums
- Georgetown Law Clinic
- HIPS: Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive
- International Association of Chiefs of Police
- International Center for Missing & Exploited Children
- Justice Policy Institute*
- Marijuana Policy Project
- D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Sexual Assault Unit, Cold Case Squad
- Milmujeres
- My Sister’s Place
- National Center for Victims of Crime
- National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Public Policy Office
- National Crime Prevention Council
- Offender Aid and Restoration
- Petey Greene Program, volunteers needed for GED tutoring*
- Protect Our Defenders
- Pretrial Justice Institute
- Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
- Safe Shores: The D.C. Children's Advocacy Center
- The Sentencing Project
- Stop Child Abuse Now
- Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
- A Wider Circle
*Recommended by past GW student interns.
Criminal Justice Student Association
The GW Criminal Justice Student Association (CJSA) is an organization on campus that allows students to come together who are seeking a better understanding of the criminal justice issues that our country is currently struggling with. CJSA strives to provide a platform for those who want to do more, but are not informed on how to do so, and will foster a community for students with similar interests. CJSA welcomes anyone to join the club! This includes criminal justice and sociology, majors, minors and concentrations, as well as people who are simply interested in criminal justice-related issues.
Connect with CJSA on Instagram
Course Requirements
The major in Criminal Justice can be combined with the following minors in the Sociology Department:
- HSSJ major or minor
- Law & Society minor
- Health Equity micro-minor
The following requirements must be fulfilled:
The general requirements stated under Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, Undergraduate Programs.
Program-specific curriculum (below).
Achievement of a minimum grade of C- in any course that counts toward the degree.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisites | ||
| SOC 1001 | Introduction to Sociology | |
| or SOC 1002 | The Sociological Imagination | |
| SOC 1003 | Introduction to Criminal Justice | |
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required | ||
| SOC 2101 | Social Research Methods (recommended to be taken before the senior year) | |
| SOC 2102 | Techniques of Data Analysis (recommended to be taken before the senior year) | |
| SOC 2135 | Youth and Delinquency | |
| SOC 2136 | Criminology | |
| SOC 2145 | Criminal Law | |
| SOC 4195 | Senior Research Seminar | |
| or SOC 4195W | Senior Research Seminar | |
| or SOC 4196 | Criminal Justice in the Field | |
| Electives | ||
| Five courses selected from the following, including at least one Sociology (SOC) course and at least one non-Sociology course: | ||
| AMST 1160 | Race, Gender, and Law | |
| ANTH 3513 | Anthropology of Human Rights | |
| or ANTH 3513W | Anthropology of Human Rights | |
| ECON 2167 | Economics of Crime | |
| HIST 2341 | History of FBI Counterintelligence | |
| FORS 2107 | Fundamentals of Forensic Science | |
| HIST 3370 | U.S. Constitutional History | |
| PSC 2213 | Judicial Politics | |
| PSC 2215 | U.S. Constitutional Law and Politics II | |
| PSYC 2011 | Abnormal Psychology | |
| PSYC 2554 | Psychology of Crime and Violence | |
| SOC 2137 | Transnational Crime | |
| SOC 2138 | Reentry | |
| SOC 2139 | Alternatives to Imprisonment | |
| SOC 2143 | Criminal Justice System Arrest Through Appeal | |
| SOC 2146 | The Bill of Rights and Criminal Justice | |
| SOC 2164 | Sociology of the Holocaust and Genocide | |
| SOC 2167 | Sociology of Law | |
| or SOC 2167W | Sociology of Law | |
| SOC 2177 | Sociology of the Sex Industry | |
| SOC 2178 | Deviance and Control | |
| SOC 2184 | Violence and the Family | |
| SOC 2185 | Victims, Victimization, and the System | |
| SOC 2189 | Special Topics in Criminal Justice | |
Note: A student majoring in sociology may not declare a second major or a minor in criminal justice, or vice versa.