Criminology and Justice Studies BS

About the Department

In what ways has the War on Drugs of the 1980s and 1990s continued to impact urban communities in terms of street-corner dealing, violence, and overall health? What are the lasting effects of that "War" paradigm as they relate to national incarceration rates, racial disparities in police shootings, stop-and-frisk, and the adjudication process? In what ways are “big data” being used (now and in the future) by justice, intelligence, or private organizations to identify social networks, conduct risk assessments, and make decisions about crime policy and resource deployment? How did Pandemic influence crime and conflict across communities, as well as police practices? These are just some of the questions the Criminology and Justice Studies faculty work every day to answer, both through their research and scholarship, and in the classroom with our students.

Drexel University's degree programs in Criminology and Justice Studies offer a rich educational experience that emphasizes justice and criminological theory, the use of analytical tools and data to answer big questions about crime and justice, all while teaching students how to translate conceptual knowledge into state of the art practice. Along the way, the Department of Criminology and Justice Studies offers global educational opportunities with two courses taught abroad, a set of community-based courses that take students beyond the classroom to practice the learning process, as well as an urban educational experience in one of the premier cities in the country. With its flexible curriculum and two minors, one in Justice Studies, the other in Crime Analytics and Digital Investigations, we provide our students with ready opportunities to double major and take more specialized courses of study. We encourage our students to take at least one minor as both a resume booster and a curricular enhancement within our own department. The Department of Criminology and Justice Studies offers students many pathways through which to complete a course of study that emphasizes innovative learning opportunities, global and civic engagement and a culture that fosters student successes and well being.

Degree Concentration

Drexel Co-op for Criminology and Justice Studies Majors

The Department of Criminology and Justice Studies offers three options for students: a five-year three co-op option, a four-year one co-op option, and a four-year, no co-op option. We help students chose a co-op option that best fits their goals, though we encourage students earning their bachelor's degree in criminology to take advantage of the co-op program. Taking on the 5-year three co-op option means students will have earned a total of one and a half years of work experience by the time they graduate, allowing them to apply for crime and intelligence analysis or other positions that require at least one-year experience (What is crime analysis? Click here to find out about this exciting career path for our graduates). Criminology and Justice Studies students have held co-op positions at the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, at local sheriff and police departments, with local judges, at criminal justice agencies, law firms, community agencies and nonprofit organizations locally and justice organizations nationally.

For more information about Criminology and Justice Studies, contact Senior Academic Advisor, Mica Storer mls46@drexel.edu or Department Head, Dr. Robert J. Kane rjk72@drexel.edu.

Criminology and Justice Studies Faculty

Robert D'Ovidio, PhD (Temple University). Associate Professor. The intersection of computer technology, crime, and the criminal justice system; criminological theory; surveillance; and digital forensics.
Ashley Dickinson, PhD, MPH (Indiana University of Pennsylvania). Associate Teaching Professor. Offender rehabilitation; capital punishment; LGBTQ+ community (criminal behavior and victimization); crime and health.
Jordan Hyatt, PhD, JD (University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University School of Law) Director, Center for Public Policy. Associate Professor. Community corrections; drug treatment; homelessness; probation/parole; re-entry; risk assessment; sentencing.
Shannon K. Jacobsen, PhD (Rutgers University). Assistant Professor. Gender, crime and victimization; fear of crime and perceptions of risk; campus crime; public safety; communities and crime; social inequalities; mixed methods research
Robert J. Kane, PhD (Temple University) Department Head. Professor. Police authority and accountability; urban ecology and sociology; violence and public health; police strategies and practices.
Kathleen Powell, PhD (Rutgers University). Post-Doctoral Fellow. Crime, punishment, and the life course; the intersection of health and justice system involvement; legal financial obligations; correctional interventions.
Cyndi Rickards, EdD (Drexel University). Associate Teaching Professor. Director of Justice Studies. Issues of mass incarceration, community-engaged scholarship, intersection of mental health and the CJ system, the criminal justice system and the lived experience.
C. Clare Strange, PhD (University of Cincinnati). Assistant Research Professor. Sentencing, courts, and corrections; Racial and ethnic inequalities; Health and public health approaches to criminal justice; Program and policy implementation and evaluation.
Matthew J. Teti, PhD (Northeastern University) Post-Doctoral Fellow. Police strategies and practices, technology diffusion in policing, police militarization, and issues related to race and policing.
Kristene Unsworth, PhD (University of Washington) Director, Center for Science, Technology, & Society. Assistant Teaching Professor. Intersections between information technology, people, and justice, information policy, ethics of data use, data analytics.