The Criminology major at Lynchburg College offers an exciting opportunity for students to be a part of a field of study combining a solid grounding in the liberal arts with specific content in a growing and important interdisciplinary area.
In addition, the major provides a student with skills in:
- Quantitative research techniques
- Opportunities for experiential learning through internships
- Recognizing the reality of increased global ties with a strong international dimension
Criminology is, of course, the study of crime: how much of it occurs, who does it and why they do it. But it is more than this. It also includes the study of the response of society to crime which examines, among other things, how and why societies label some activities as criminal, how informal systems of social control and formal criminal justice systems operate and the origin and effect of policy on crime. Recently criminologists have turned much attention to studying the victims of crimes.
Criminology is also:
- The study of the response of society to crime which examines
- How and why societies label some activities as criminal
- How informal systems of social control and formal criminal justice systems operate
- The origin and effect of policy on crime.
Criminology as a discipline has been most influenced by sociology and so it is fitting that the new major will be administered by the Sociology Department and many of its courses are sociology courses. Though sociology’s influence has been the strongest on the field it has since its inception always had an interdisciplinary aspect as psychologists studying the personalities of serial killers, historians documenting the history of penal institutions, political scientists researching the bureaucracies of criminal justice agencies, etc., all contribute to the subject matter of the field: criminal deviance and societal response to it.
The Criminology major at Lynchburg College offers courses designed and taught by the faculty from the departments of:
- Sociology
- History
- Psychology
- Political science
- Philosophy
- International relations
- Modern languages
Students earning a degree in the Criminology major will receive extensive instruction in skills commonly stressed by the liberal arts:
- exposure to cultural and historical diversity
- critical thinking
- cultural literacy
- reading comprehension
- effective writing
- leadership skills
We teach the specific content of criminology, cross-cultural analysis of such issues and research techniques that will enable them to analyze and interpret a variety of statistical data. This education will provide the tools necessary to secure a successful career in one of the many criminology related occupations. It will provide the skills that better enable a person to succeed in a variety of careers, and more importantly than either of those admittedly important goals, it will provide the tools to help the student in life in general.