Welcome to Murray State University’s Criminal Justice website! The Criminal Justice program is located in the Department of Social Work, Criminal Justice, and Gerontology within the College of Health Sciences and Human Services. Students may earn a Bachelor of Science degree or a Bachelor of Arts degree or a minor in Criminal Justice. Interested students may also earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Forensics, which is taught in the Chemistry Department in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, and requires a minor in Criminal Justice.

The University Studies (core curriculum) provides the necessary liberal arts education, while the criminal justice major further develops the student's oral, written, analytical, research, and problem-solving skills. Students are required to complete ENG 101 and 102, and CRJ 140 with a minimum grade of C, and they must have a 2.5 GPA to be accepted into the major or minor. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA and must earn a C or better in all classes that count toward the major or minor. Internship experiences are available during the junior and senior years in a variety of agencies, including the public defender, local police agencies, Kentucky State Police, the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney, victims’ services agencies, and regional corrections agencies.

Students are encouraged to join Lambda Alpha Epsilon, an academic fraternity of the American Criminal Justice Association; and/or Alpha Phi Sigma, the national criminal justice honor society affiliated with the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Many Murray State Criminal Justice majors attend these conferences with professors and present papers. Students also take part in competitions such as crime scene investigation, and network with other students and agency representatives.

Murray State offers extensive opportunities to study abroad. During the summer of 2005, Dr. Kate King, Director of Criminal Justice, taught CRJ 425, Terrorism, and CRJ 573, Comparative Criminal Justice Systems, in Istanbul, Turkey. Students may choose from a wide variety of countries and may take part in 2-week, 4-week, 5-week, and semester long study abroad programs.

The areas of expertise of Murray State’s Criminal Justice faculty include Criminal Justice and Criminology, but also History, Economics, and Law. Faculty members are active in the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) and the American Society of Criminology (ASC), as well as regional associations. Each faculty member is engaged in research and service to the university, the discipline, and the community.