Undergraduate Major in Criminology

[Course Requirements ]

Welcome to the University of Pennsylvania's Undergraduate Program in Criminology!

The Penn Criminology Major offers students a unique education in crime and criminal justice policy. Students majoring in criminology will gain a broad understanding of the socio-political context of crime and the bio-psychological analysis of violent and anti-social behavior. Every major is required to develop a research proposal as part of senior capstone experience.

Undergraduate Major Penn offers the only undergraduate major in criminology at an Ivy League university. The undergraduate criminology major is based on a 14 credit unit (CU), interdisciplinary focus on theory and applied criminological research. While the criminology major covers the broad epistemology of the discipline it concludes with a more narrow focus on application in a senior capstone course. The major was designed with an emphasis on theoretical and methodological frameworks developed in the social and behavioral sciences for generating and assessing knowledge about crime and social control. These frameworks, from statistics to neuroscience, constitute a truly liberal approach to the subject of crime. Majors are exposed to a diverse liberal arts education that is closely linked to allied social sciences. Course offerings in criminology are interdisciplinary and expose students to an expanding body of applied science that has practical importance, including becoming knowledgeable on functional aspects of controlling crime, the structure of the courts, and the evidentiary basis for public policy decisions in crime control. Consistent with the different levels of social inquiry, there are different methods of studying criminology. But for this major, the emphasis is on criminology as an applied quantitative social science and how the products of that science can inform public policy. All majors develop a research project as part of their senior capstone course. Students majoring in criminology and graduating with Honors expand on their senior capstone project and write a senior thesis. The program is quantitatively oriented and students writing a thesis generally collect and analyze data for their research.

Declaring a major in Criminology is easy, just use the following guidelines: See your College academic advisor to create an official worksheet on Penn in Touch. Make an appointment with the Undergraduate Chair John MacDonald by emailing Janel McCaffrey at janelm@sas.upenn.edu or stopping by Criminology at 483 McNeil Building. We'll be happy to talk to you about the major. If you decide to declare, we will also help you choose a Faculty Advisor. Early in the senior year, meet with your Faculty Advisor to make sure you have taken all the Criminology courses and fulfilled the other requirements of the major.

Major Requirements: The requirements are as follows, with up to 2 approved substitutions allowed upon departmental approval. Requirements for Criminology Major (non-Honors): 14 Credit Units (CUs): 6 Core Criminology Courses, 1 400-level Criminology Capstone Course, and 7 Cross-departmental Courses Criminology Courses (6 CUs, or substitutes indicated) CRIM 100 - Criminology CRIM 150 - Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy CRIM 200 - Criminal Justice CRIM 260 - Crime and Human Development (or PSYC 180 - Developmental Psychology) CRIM 280 - Neighborhood Dynamics of Crime (or SOCI 140 - Sociology of Conflict) CRIM 300 - Law and Criminal Justice CRIM 370 - Biosocial criminology Research Capstone Seminar in Criminology (1 CU) One 400-level course (CRIM 410-412) Socio-Political Context of Crime (4 CUs) SOCI 03 - Deviance and Social Control (Required) Any three of the following: CLST 130 - Ancient and Modern Prison Narratives ENGL 16 - Discipline and Punish: Crime and Criminality in Early America HIST 168 - History of American Law to 1877 HIST 169 - History of American Law since 1877 HIST 352 - Legal History: English Fundamentals PHIL 077 - Philosophy of Law PHIL 277 - Justice, Law and Morality PHIL 278 - Comparative Law PSCI 130 - Introduction to American Politics PSCI 171 - American Constitutional Law SOCI 125 - Classical Sociological Theory SOCI 135 - Law and Society SOCI 140 - Sociology of Conflict Bio-Psychological Analysis (3 CUs) Any three of the following: BIBB 109 - Intro to Brain and Behavior PSYC 001 - Intro to Psychology PSYC 162 - Abnormal Psychology PSYC 160 - Personality PSYC 125 - Drugs, Brain and Mind PSYC 149 - Cognitive Neuroscience PSYC 170 - Social Psychology PSYC 180 - Developmental Psychology Requirements for Departmental Honors 14 Credit Units (CUs): 6 Core Criminology Courses with minimum GPA of 3.4, 1 400-level Criminology Capstone Course, Senior Thesis, and 6 Cross-departmental Courses Criminology Courses (6 CUs, or substitutes indicated) CRIM 100 - Criminology CRIM 150 - Evidence-Based Crime and Justice Policy CRIM 200 - Criminal Justice CRIM 260 - Crime and Human Development (or PSYC 180 - Developmental Psychology) CRIM 280 - Neighborhood Dynamics of Crime (or SOCI 140 - Sociology of Conflict) CRIM 300 - Law and Criminal Justice CRIM 370 - Biosocial criminology Research Capstone Seminar in Criminology (1 CU) One 400-level course (CRIM 410-412) Senior Thesis (1 CU) CRIM 450 - Senior Research Thesis Socio-Political Context of Crime (3 CUs) SOCI 03 - Deviance and Social Control (Required) Any two of the following: CLST 130 - Ancient and Modern Prison Narratives ENGL 16 - Discipline and Punish: Crime and Criminality in Early America HIST 168 - History of American Law to 1877 HIST 169 - History of American Law since 1877 HIST 352 - Legal History: English Fundamentals PHIL 077 - Philosophy of Law PHIL 277 - Justice, Law and Morality PHIL 278 - Comparative Law PSCI 130 - Introduction to American Politics PSCI 171 - American Constitutional Law SOCI 125 - Classical Sociological Theory SOCI 135 - Law and Society SOCI 140 - Sociology of Conflict Bio-Psychological Analysis (3 CUs) Any three of the following: BIBB 109 - Intro to Brain and Behavior PSYC 001 - Intro to Psychology PSYC 162 - Abnormal Psychology PSYC 160 - Personality PSYC 125 - Drugs, Brain and Mind PSYC 149 - Cognitive Neuroscience PSYC 170 - Social Psychology PSYC 180 - Developmental Psychology

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