The Student Planning Guide is created for undergraduates to assist in planning the four-year curriculum leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice. It supplements the following University publications: Description of Courses, Academic Programs, and Schedule of Classes. Students, in consultation with the School of Criminal Justice academic advisors and faculty, are responsible for organizing their programs and satisfying their degree requirements.

The complexities of modern society have combined to generate a variety of threats to business organizations, information networks, government installations and operations, and individuals. The Undergraduate Minor in Security Management is designed for students who are interested in private and government security.

The School offers a number of degree programs, including the BA, MS, and PhD in Criminal Justice and the MS in Forensic Science on our beautiful campus in East Lansing, and the MS in Criminal Justice, MS in Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis (LEIA), and MS in Judicial Administration (JA) in an on-line format. In addition, the School offers a number of Certificate programs that students may earn either independently or while on the pathway towards degree (Certificates in LEIA, JA, Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection, Conservation Criminology, International Focus, Homeland Security, and Security Management). These degree offerings reflect the range of interests of faculty in the School, who study both core criminology and justice issues, as well as emerging areas of crime and innovative responses to crime in the 21st century.

The School houses over 30 faculty known both nationally and internationally for their expertise in such areas as public and private policing, law enforcement intelligence and counter-terrorism, community supervision, forensic science, cybercrime, gender-based violence and victimization, terrorism, youth violence and prevention, conservation criminology, and international crime and justice. Reflective of the inter-disciplinary nature of the field, several faculty hold joint appointments with other academic units, such as Sociology, Fisheries and Wildlife, and Environmental Science.