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School of Criminology and Security Studies

College of Arts and Sciences

The School of Criminology and Security Studies at Indiana State University offers bachelor’s degrees in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Intelligence Analysis, and Cybercriminology & Security Studies. These programs focus on scientifically studying crime, its causes, and effective methods for prevention and control. The department prepares students for careers in corrections, law enforcement, security, and other related fields.

About ISU Criminology & Criminal Justice

The public's growing concern about crime makes criminology and criminal justice two of the most dynamic and fastest growing fields of study in the nation. Indiana State University's Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice is at the forefront of this expansion. Offering you a four-year degree program and a master's degree, our goal is to offer you professional preparation in the areas of corrections, law enforcement, security, and crime and delinquency prevention programs. What makes our program outstanding are special features including:

  • State-wide contacts and education programs with law enforcement personnel
  • Modern forensic laboratory which offers the opportunity for hands-on investigations
  • A faculty with experience in the field
  • Internships to provide practical experience

Indiana State University is ideally situated for providing a wide range of truly outstanding internship placements. Within the immediate vicinity of Terre Haute are situated a U.S. Penitentiary, a juvenile detention center, an adult probation office, a state parole office, a city police department, a sheriff's department, and a state police post. If a student is willing to drive up to 70 miles, it is possible for him or her to serve an internship at the local, county, state, or federal levels of both law enforcement and correctional agencies. The Department maintains close and friendly relations with these facilities, which greatly enhances the learning opportunities.

Mission Statement

The Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Indiana State University has as its major goal to discover new knowledge and to assist the community in solving problems while providing all its students a sound liberal arts education with a focus on understanding criminal behavior, the criminal justice system, mechanisms of social control and their relationship to society. Students electing to major in criminology and criminal justice are prepared for careers in the criminal justice field and entry into law school or a graduate program in criminology or a related discipline. The wide variety of courses offered enables each student to determine his or her program in terms of interests and aspirations. An integral part of the criminology and criminal justice program is the internship, which allows students to understand criminal justice agencies.

Indiana Police Academy - Academic Credit

When you complete the Police Academy, Indiana State University gives you:

  • 9 credit hours applied to an undergraduate program or
  • 6 credit hours applied to a graduate program

Our nationally recognized faculty connects theory and practice to prepare students for their careers. Learn more about our award-winning, in-demand programs offered on campus and 100 percent online.

Graduates of law enforcement academies or U.S. armed forces basic training programs may be eligible to receive transfer credit for up to 6 hours of undergraduate work or 6 hours of graduate work. 

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACADEMY TRANSFER CREDIT AND COURSE SUBSTITUTION INFORMATION

Indiana State University
School of Criminology and Security Studies

Students completing training at an accredited criminal justice academy may be eligible to receive transfer credit for up to 9 credits of undergraduate work or 6 credits of graduate work towards a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Students may not use the credits for both programs. In addition, these credits may not be eligible for consideration in other majors.

General Information:

  1. Transfer credit for completion of coursework and training at an accredited criminal justice academy will be considered following a review of the training academy curriculum and the current Indiana State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice undergraduate or graduate course equivalencies.
  2. Training equivalency is verified by the presentation of the official certificate of completion and the completion of the Transfer Credit and Course Substitution Approval Application. The Certificate must be attached to the Criminal Justice Academy Course Substitution Approval Application at the time of submission for consideration.
  3. Criminal Justice academies completed within the previous 15 years of the start date of the program will be considered.
  4. The following criminal justice academy curriculum(s) have been verified for preapproval:
     
    1. Indiana Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA)
    2. Indiana State Police Recruitment Academy
    3. Indiana Department of Correction (adult and juvenile facilities and parole)
    4. Indiana Probation Officer Training (Indiana Office of Court Services)
    5. Indiana Community Corrections Training Division
  5. Other academies will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Students seeking approval outside of the aforementioned academies must present a copy of the curriculum (an overview is appropriate) and a link to the academies web page along with a point of contact for verification.

The Criminology Department was founded at Indiana State University in 1972. The Department curriculum was organized around courses in policing and corrections and several of its original faculty members had professional experience in those fields, establishing a practitioner emphasis that would characterize the Department for decades. A milestone in the Department’s history occurred in the late 1970s when the Journal of Criminal Justice ranked the ISU Criminology Department fourth in the nation in terms of scholarly productivity. With this, the Department earned a reputation for being one of the top criminology departments in the United States. With the rise in U.S. crime rates during the 1980s—exacerbated by the crack cocaine epidemic, the growth of predatory street gangs, and the concomitant move toward mass incarceration—the Department’s enrollments soared.

By 1999, the Department had grown to have a combined undergraduate/graduate enrollment of 547 majors. In addition to traditional courses in policing and corrections, theory and methods, the curriculum was expanded to include directed electives ranging from classes on environmental law and hate crimes to gangs, white collar crime, and drugs and crime. Highlights of Departmental activities included a student honor society (Alpha Phi Sigma) and a professional fraternity (Lambda Alpha Epsilon); a state-of-the-art criminalistics lab and moot court room; student internship programs; and placement assistance through the Department’s Annual Career Fair.

By the 2010s, the combined enrollment of undergraduate and graduate students increased to more than 900, and the Criminology faculty proved to be exceptionally productive over the first five years of the decade, generating more than one hundred research articles, chapters, monographs and scholarly books. The faculty have organized international conferences, won major grant awards, and established foreign teaching partnerships in Croatia and the United Kingdom. Opportunities for students continue to flourish as the department continues its focus on career readiness through an alumni speaker series and continuation of the annual departmental Career Fair.  To keep up with the dramatically changing times in criminology and criminal justice, in 2018 the department is bringing two new majors to its students – CYBERCRIMINOLOGY AND SECURITY STUDIES and INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS.  These majors will give students an education which prepares them for employment in cutting-edge criminal justice fields.    

In May of 2019, we changed from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice to the School of Criminology and Security Studies. Our new name will aid in recruiting new students and faculty, and better reflect the growth and development of our new programs. Criminology is an ever-expanding field, and we are adjusting to remain relevant and competitive.  Our approach has broadened, but our values remain the same. All our programs will continue to prepare students for productive careers in public service and can be completed on-campus or online.  Becoming a School will allow all our programs to thrive and better address the challenges confronting criminology and criminal justice today.