Criminal Justice and Sociology
Faculty
Chair: Julia Foster Beeman
Associate Professor: Julia Foster Beeman
Assistant Professors: Stephen Ward, Mary P. Summa
Program Mission
Criminal Justice, with its foundation in the social sciences, is a multidisciplinary field that looks to the liberal arts and Catholic intellectual tradition to explore the history, philosophy, and practice of the criminal justice system in America. At the Abbey, we aim to help Criminal Justice majors, as future practitioners and citizens, continue to develop their sense of community and ethics with regard to the administration of law, under the guiding principle that God be glorified in all things.
Program Goals
Criminal Justice majors will develop a knowledge of the building blocks of the criminal justice system; explore the schools of criminological thought that attempt to explain crime and criminal behavior; acquire an ability to think critically and creatively about crime and other social problems; develop empirically-supported solutions to these problems; strengthen their oral and written communication skills; and explore the ethical issues surrounding the professional field of criminal justice.