Introduction

Please click here to see Sociology department information.

Responding to crime and its harms in a just way is a core challenge for society. Criminology is the field of study dedicated to understanding crime as a social phenomenon. Criminologists study the social construction of laws, the nature and causes of crime, responses to lawbreaking, and the prevention, control and treatment of crime.

The Department of Sociology's Criminology Certificate offers an essential foundation for students pursuing careers in criminal justice, victim and community services, criminal law, and non-profit organizations in local and international settings. The certificate also prepares students for law school and graduate programs in sociology and criminology. Students also use this training to conduct research and inform policy on crime and law.

Upon successful completion of the certificate, students will:

• Understand the theoretical explanations for the social and behavioral causes of crime and crime reduction

• Possess a fundamental understanding of the criminal-legal and political institutions responsible for crime control and policy

• Be familiar with current trends in criminological thought, research, and activism

• Be able to apply the technical skills of their methodological training to conduct crime analyses and outcomes assessments for programs aimed at crime prevention

• Engage in original research projects involving criminological topics

Program Delivery

• This is an on-campus or online program.

Declaring This Certificate

​Students interested in completing this certificate should complete this form: CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Intent to Declare Form, which requests that the certificate be added to your student record. Once added, you will be able to run a certificate degree audit. The certificate degree audit should be used in collaboration with the Certificate Advisor to ensure successful completion of the requirements.

Students should then work with Maren Scull (maren.scull@ucdenver.edu) – the certificate advisor, to ensure completion of all certificate requirements.

Eligibility: While housed in Sociology, criminology is in fact a multidisciplinary field that draws from diverse liberal arts fields, including Psychology, Political Science, Communications, History, Philosophy, among others. Thus, CU Denver undergraduate students in any discipline can enroll in the certificate program. The certificate is also available to non-degree-seeking students who already have earned a BA or BS degree, either at CU Denver or elsewhere.

Completing This Certificate

Students must also complete the CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Completion Verification Form, before graduation, in order to confirm completion of their certificate. The certificate advisor will confirm that your certificate has been successfully completed, and will work with campus partners to apply the certificate to your transcript.

Students must fill out the Certificate Completion Form before the deadlines below, to ensure the certificate is applied to your transcript correctly. If you are a non-degree seeking student, please fill out this form in the term in which you intend to complete your certificate.

Spring semester – April 1
Summer semester – July 1
Fall semester – November 1

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the academic department, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reserves the right to make exceptions and substitutions as judged necessary in individual cases. Therefore, the College strongly urges students to consult their advisor to confirm the best plans of study before finalizing them. 

General Requirements

Students must satisfy all requirements as outlined below and by the department offering the certificate. 

• Click here for information about Academic Policies

Certificate Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 15 credit hours from the approved courses below.

2. Students must complete a minimum of six upper-division (3000-level and above) credit hours chosen from the approved courses below.

3. Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the certificate and must achieve a minimum cumulative certificate GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to certificate requirements.

4. Students must complete all credits applied to the certificate at CU Denver. If students have completed a course required for the certificate elsewhere, they may add the needed credits in the form of additional elective credits drawn from the approved elective courses.

Certificate Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations

1. The certificate will be awarded at the end of the semester in which the student completes all required courses for the certificate.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete the following required courses: 1		11
SOCY 3115 & SOCY 3119	Quantitative Methods & Analysis and Qualitative Methods
SOCY 3490	Criminology
Complete two of the following elective courses:		6
ANTH/PBHL 4090	Psychedelic Anthropology
COMM 4040	Communication, Prisons, and Social Justice
COMM 4680	Mass Media Law And Policy
CRJU 3160	White-Collar Crime
CRJU 3220	Community Corrections
CRJU 3250	Violence in Society
CRJU 3510	Drugs, Alcohol, and Crime
CRJU 3540	Crime and Delinquency Prevention
CRJU 4120	Race, Class, and Justice
CRJU 4130	Poverty, Crime, and Justice
CRJU 4140	Interpersonal Violence
CRJU 4170	Victimology
CRJU 4190	Gender and Crime
CRJU 4520	Gangs and Criminal Organizations
CRJU 4710	Environmental Crime and Justice
ECON 3300	Economics of Crime and Punishment
ECON 3400	Economics of Sex and Drugs
ETST 3704	Culture, Racism and Alienation
HDFR 4075	Family Policy & Law
HIST/COMM 3231	Famous U.S. Trials
HIST 4308	Crime, Policing, and Justice in American History
PHIL 3280	War and Morality
PHIL 4260	Why Obey the Law? Introduction to Philosophy of Law
PHIL 4450	Punishment and Social Justice
PSCI 3034	Race, Gender, Law and Public Policy
PSCI 4185	Corruption in the U.S. and Abroad
PSCI 4427	Law, Politics and Justice
PSCI 4807	Political Violence
PSYC 3265	Drugs, Brain and Behavior
PSYC 3612	Domestic Abuse
SOCY 2440	Deviance and Social Control
SOCY 3040	Drugs, Alcohol & Society
SOCY 4340	Juvenile Delinquency
SOCY 4460	Hate Groups and Group Violence
SOCY 4590	Crime, Justice, and the City
SOCY 4700	Sociology of Law
SOCY 4780	Violence in Relationships
Total Hours		17

¹

Students may substitute two approved methods courses in their major discipline, one on quantitative methods and one on qualitative methods. Questions about eligible methods course substitutions should be directed to the criminology certificate advisor. Alternative courses may reduce the required course credit hours from 11 to 9.

• SOCY 3115 Quantitative Methods & Analysis substitutions may include ECON 3801 Introduction to Mathematical Economics, ECON 3811 Statistics with Computer Applications, GEOG 2080 Introduction to Mapping and Map Analysis, GEOG 4080 Introduction to GIS, MATH 2830 Introductory Statistics,  PHIL 2441 Logic, Language and Scientific Reasoning, PHIL 3440 Introduction to Symbolic Logic, PSCI 3011 Research Methods, PSYC 2090 Statistics and Research Methods, PSYC 3090 Research Methods in Psychology.
• SOCY 3119 Qualitative Methods substitutions may include COMM 4221 Research Methods: Qualitative, PBHL 4031 Ethnographic Research In Public Health. 

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.