Criminal Justice
What does justice and public safety mean to you and your community? Criminal Justice courses at Highline College teach the practical knowledge about how the Criminal Justice system works and the necessary skills, including critical thinking and communication, which students need to work effectively in the Criminal Justice system and be an advocate for justice in their community. Students can enroll in short-term certificates, a professional technical degree designed to prepare students to enter the workforce, or a transfer degree designed to prepare students for further study at a four-year school.
Career
A degree in Criminal Justice provides critical insight into questions of justice and maintaining public safety as well as preparing students for careers in the criminal justice system, including law enforcement, corrections officers, criminal investigators, security guards, bailiffs, and more. With additional education, Criminal Justice students can seek employment developing policy, conducting research, or working with victims. Criminal Justice practitioners work in public, private, and nonprofit organizations.
Associates Degrees
Want to work in the Criminal Justice system? Learn how the Criminal Justice system works and the skills you need to ensure justice and public safety for all.
Program Map
Department/Program URL:
GPA Requirement:
2.0
Number of Credits:
90 credits
Degree or Certificate Learning Outcomes:
- Apply the knowledge and verbal skills requisite to effectively communicate with criminal suspects, victims, witnesses, persons in crisis and others in need.
- Identify constitutional freedoms and rights, and how an ethical criminal justice system and participatory citizenship protect those freedoms and rights.
- Describe those applicant screening/selection process typically utilized by law enforcement and corrections agencies for their entry-level positions.
- Analyze a criminal case to determine its appropriate processing, given an understanding of the jurisdiction and functions of police, courts and corrections as components of an interdependent criminal justice system.
- Secure and process a crime scene, employing proper techniques of evidence gathering, searching, sketching and on-scene interviewing.
- Analyze criminal statutes to determine the statutes elements, constitutionality and proper application.
- Produce written incident and investigative reports that are useful and professional in terms of accuracy, completeness, spelling and grammar.
Top Transfer-To institutions
- Bachelor of Applied Science in Behavioral Health, Lake Washington Institute of Technology
Important Dates or Milestones Specific to Degree/Certificate
Preferred transfer start date is Fall Quarter for students hoping to transfer to Pierce College BAS in HSEM or Lake Washington Institute of Technology BAS in Behavioral Health.
For students hoping to transfer to Pierce College BAS in Homeland Security and Emergency Management or Lake Washington Institute of Technology BAS in Behavioral Health: Preferred start date is Fall Quarter.
Key Advisors
Interested in studying Criminal Justice at a four-year college or university? Take Criminal Justice courses while earning your transferable Associate in Arts degree. You will hone your critical thinking and communication skills and learn about the Criminal Justice system.
Program Map
Department/Program URL:
GPA Requirement:
2.0
Number of Credits:
90 credits
Degree or Certificate Learning Outcomes:
- Critical Thinking Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze and summarize complex information, create an argument that acknowledges multiple perspectives, and use reasoning and evidence to draw conclusions.
- Quantitative Reasoning Students will demonstrate the ability to apply numerical, logical, and analytical techniques to analyze, evaluate, and explain quantitative information.
- Effective Communication Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate ideas through written, oral, and/or visual formats by utilizing their own voice to address various audiences and consider the perspectives of others.
- Information & Visual Literacy Students will demonstrate the ability to interpret, evaluate, synthesize, and organize selected textual, visual, or electronic resources for a given situation, maintaining strict adherence to legal and ethical guidelines governing information access.
- Community & Social ResponsibilityStudents will demonstrate the ability to interact productively and equitably with others in diverse local, national, and global communities; address social justice issues based on awareness of historical and contemporary systemic inequalities; proactively engage in their physical and mental health.
- GlobalismStudents will demonstrate the ability to evaluate how environmental, relational and cultural processes and interactions impact the world, people’s lives, and their own views.
Top Transfer-To institutions
- Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, University of Washington – Tacoma
- Bachelor of Arts in Law and Justice, Central Washington University
- Bachelor of Arts in Law, Society, and Justice, University of Washington Seattle
Important Dates or Milestones Specific to Degree/Certificate
No specific dates or milestones.
Key Advisors
How do we ensure that our workplaces and communities can withstand disaster and be ready for the next emergency? Learn about the complex nature of emergency preparedness, disaster management and homeland security in the Associate of Applied Science in Emergency Management.
Program Map
Department/Program URL:
GPA Requirement:
2.0
Number of Credits:
90 Credits
Degree or Certificate Learning Outcomes:
- Apply effective interpersonal communication, critical thinking and decision-making skills commensurate with a defined level of responsibility.
- Develop agency/organization specific tools to evaluate specific domestic security challenges for the 21st Century that face the United States and other industrialized nations.
- Design and modify plans and programs at federal, state, and/or local levels to reflect the evolving strategic policy issues associated with a statutory and presidential direction for homeland security.
- Interpret ethical and legal issues that impact emergency management and homeland security.
- Recognize how to access and disseminate information through multiple agencies in order to forecast the risks, types, and orders of magnitude of terrorist threats most likely to confront the nation/state.
- Define the interdisciplinary nature of Homeland Security/Emergency Management functions and be able to assess and integrate various functional areas.
- Develop policies, procedures and protocols to allow seamless agency integration from prevention to incident response scenarios.
- Apply a solid foundation of knowledge and skills to assume leadership roles in emergency management, homeland security, and/or public policy.
- Participate in employer-directed training for performance enhancement and career advancement.
Top Transfer-To institutions
(Note: this is not a transfer degree.)
Important Dates or Milestones Specific to Degree/Certificate
Preferred transfer start date is Fall Quarter for students hoping to transfer to Pierce College BAS in HSEM.