Criminal Justice, B.A.

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Serve, protect, and empower positive change with a criminal justice degree from Vermont State University. You’ll build a broad base of knowledge as you study law enforcement, corrections, courts, criminology, and ethics. Then, choose from a variety of electives or select a concentration to deepen your understanding in an area that matches your career trajectory.

Courses on contemporary issues including race and environmental justice will enrich your perspective and increase your sensitivity. Practical courses like Crime Scene Investigation and targeted internships will give you the tools you’ll need as a criminal justice professional. You’ll graduate with a strong foundation to begin your career in corrections, the courts, or law enforcement or to pursue law school and other graduate studies.

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Joe Zeitler

Senior Assistant Director of Admissions

802.468.6042

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Pat Brougham

Assistant Professor

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Why Study Criminal Justice at Vermont State?

  • Strong Career Placement: Graduates have launched their careers with the U.S. Secret Service, Interpol, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, court systems, social justice nonprofits, and law enforcement agencies. 
  • Flexible Program: You don’t have to put your life on hold to earn your criminal justice degree. We offer summer, winter, condensed, and online classes to work with your schedule and even make it possible for you to finish your degree early. 
  • Broad Career Preparation: Prepare for a range of criminal justice degree jobs in areas including juvenile justice, law enforcement, corrections, probation, law, and advocacy. Or, continue your professional journey with graduate studies.  
  • Foundation for Law School: Get ready for a successful law school application and build your résumé with internships at the Vermont Attorney General’s Office, public defender’s offices, and other law-related organizations in the region. 
  • Strong Alumni Network: Connect with Vermont State alumni who live and work throughout the world to discover new career opportunities.  On a recent study abroad trip, students studying the Irish criminal justice system met with an alum who is living in Ireland and working with a non-governmental organization to assist victims of domestic violence in Ireland. 
  • Restorative Justice Focus: Study the growing field of restorative justice at the only program in the region to offer a concentration in this area. 

Concentrations in Criminal Justice, B.A.

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Sample Courses

  • Law Enforcement in America 
  • Criminal Law 
  • Race, Class, Gender, and Crime 
  • Applying Restorative Justice Methods 

Student Stories

“This is really the only school that has in-depth classes on the subject of restorative justice. I put a lot of value on that … Not a lot of people have a belief in restorative justice going into the criminal justice field. I feel like I have the ability and motivation to change the system to make it fairer.”

Cole Stillson

Cole Stillson won the Michael Israel Graduate Student Scholarship award from the Northeastern Association of Criminal Justice Sciences for his independent research on rural domestic violence agencies’ experience of COVID-19. Cole is presently earning his Ph.D. in Criminology at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.  

“The most educational part of the internship for me was the hours I spent in a ride-along scene with multiple state troopers. This provided insight into what types of events I would be doing if this was the career path I chose.”

Josh Sickles

Meet Our Faculty

Assistant Professor

  • Castleton Campus

Professor of Criminal and Restorative Justice

  • Lyndon Campus

Ready to Take the Next Step?