How About a Criminology (CRM) Minor and 
Majoring in a Different Subject?

Credit Hour Distribution for a: 
Sociology Major and a CRM Minor | Psychology Major and a CRM Minor 

There are several reasons for taking a Minor in CRM and majoring in another subject area ... or for Majoring in CRM and minoring in another discipline.

First, I believe criminology students are better served by being encouraged to major in a field outside of or in addition to criminal justice which is attractive to criminal justice employers as well as non-criminal-justice employers. I will use Sociology, Psychology, Communications, Spanish, and Science in the examples which follow. other majors should also be considered. You can explore these and other majors of interest to CRM students in greater depth.

Majoring in Sociology

The discipline of sociology offers an understanding of the social, economic and political environment within which all matters related to criminal justice take place. It is for this reason that the CRM major at Missouri State has so many sociology courses in it. The following chart shows the distribution of hours you are likely to encounter if you major in sociology and minor in CRM .

Chart 1:  Credit Hour Distribution for a Sociology Major with a CRM Minor
46 hours	Required in the General Education Requirement (including SOC 150)
+33 hours	Required in the Sociology major (assuming you took SOC 150 as a  General Education Requirement)
+21 hours	Required in the Criminology minor
100 hours	Sub-total
+25 hours	Number of additional hours needed to graduate*
125 hours	Total Number of hours needed to graduate

* What will this student do with the 31 hours still needed? How about another major or minor? Spanish? Communications? Computers? Public Law? Psychology? Most of my advisees graduate with more than one major and one minor. Even those who are majoring in the comprehensive CRM major are also completing a minor or major in another field. 

Students taking a non-comprehensive major (such as CRM) are required to complete a minor or another major.

Majoring in Psychology

Students with a Major in Psychology bring to the field of criminal justice a unique understanding of the individual, personality, motivation and cognition. If you are interested more in the treatment side of criminal justice (as opposed to the law enforcement side) then you may benefit from a Major in psychology. The specific Psychology courses you take, the papers you write for your Psychology classes and the internship you complete in Psychology are, of course, important and should be chosen carefully and with the advice of your Psychology and CRM advisors so that they mesh with your interests in criminal justice.

You should then talk to several people who are working in the kind of job you would eventually like to have. What courses or bodies of knowledge do they think you should study? Upon graduation, the distribution of your hours is likely to be as follows:

Chart 2: Credit Hour Distribution for a Psychology Major with a CRM Minor
46 hours	Required in the General Education Requirement (assumes the inclusion of PSY 121)
+30 hours	Required in the Psychology major
+21 hours	Required for a Minor in Criminology
97 hours	Total of above requirements
+28 hours	Additional hours needed to graduate*
125 hours	Total needed to graduate.

* What will this student do with the 28 hours still needed? How about another major or minor? Spanish? Communications? Computers? Public Law? Most of my advisees graduate with more than one major and one minor. Even those who are majoring in the comprehensive CRM major are also completing a minor or major in another field. 

Students taking a non-comprehensive major (such as CRM) are required to also complete a minor or another major.

A Communication Major

Students majoring in Communication bring to the field of criminal justice their ability to communicate interpersonally, organizationally and/or publicly. In a recent study of qualities employers seek in potential hires, written and oral communication skills ranked first among all the qualities they sought.

Science Majors

Science majors bring their ability to think logically and critically. Their concern for understanding "cause and effect" as well as the chronology (time order) of events makes them particularly suitable for investigative and laboratory work in the field of criminal justice.

The Spanish (or any language other than English) Major

Spanish majors bring their ability to speak with various Latino people - the fastest growing minority in the United States and a significantly large minority group in many American cities. Employment opportunities for bilingual (fluency in two languages) job applicants are plentiful and being bilingual enhances one's chances for a successful career in many fields, including criminal justice.

All of the skills and special knowledge related to the degrees mentioned above enhance one's competitiveness at the interview level as well as throughout one's career. The knowledge and/or skills of almost any academic Major could be transferred to the field of criminal justice. And, except for majoring in Social Work or Business at Missouri State, most students can complete a Major in another department and complete a Minor or Major in CRM and still not accumulate more than 125 credit hours.

NOTE: Talk with your CRM advisor to determine what your second Major or Minor may be, how many hours you will accumulate before you graduate with those degrees, and what the benefits of an additional Major or Minor may be. Then you can make an informed decision about how to spend your time and money at Missouri State in relation to your educational and career goals.

The second reason why I recommend that students complete a degree in a field other than criminal justice is to assure that, while the student in college, he or she obtains the broadest education possible within the confines of the institution's requirements. There is little doubt that employees with a solid liberal arts education (arts, humanities, literature, philosophy, history, psychology, etc.) enhance the agency or firm for which they work. They bring to the workplace an understanding of themselves, other people and the society in which they and others live that makes them more effective workers.

The third reason is to assure yourself that, should you choose or be required to leave your career in criminal, you have something else upon which to fall back. Some people who enter the field of criminal justice eventually find that it is not to their liking, so they want to leave it and build a career doing something else. If they had a major in CRM and no other Minor or Major, what would they be prepared to do? What body of knowledge or skills could they fall back on?

NOTE: It is important to note that, since the inception of the comprehensive Major in CRM, some of my concerns have been quieted. The emphasis on Sociology courses in the Major (a minimum of 18 hours in the 61 hour program) provides some assurance that its graduates have a broader view of the world.

There are several reasons why some people may leave the field of criminal justice. They may discover they don't like the work. It might be the politics involved, insufficient pay, limited promotions or boredom in one's work assignment, being over worked, having too much work assigned, conflict with a philosophy at work that goes against what they believe, too few successes, too much danger or physical injury and the list goes on. To fail to mention that some students run into these problems in the workplace would be dishonest on my part.

Some criminal justice practitioners leave the field due to an injury. We've had that happen to some of our graduates and, in each instance reported to us, the students were able to fall back on their non-CRM Major for assistance. And some people leave the field of criminal justice due to pressures brought upon them by their spouses or the needs of their children. Regardless of the reason for leaving, you would be smart to have something to fall back on. Besides, why invest tens of thousands of dollars and years of your life getting a college education just so that you can work in only one field?

It should be emphasized that, for the first 12 years of the Criminology program (from 1987 to the fall of 1999) graduates with only a Minor in criminal justice and a Major in another field were aggressively pursued by criminal justice employers ... and they continue to be doing well in their chosen career. The message this communicates is that you can get into and succeed in the field of criminal justice with only a CRM Minor. You don't have to have a Major in CRM and, if you earn one, it is no guarantee that you will get a job in the field or automatically be able to compete successfully with students who only have a Minor in CRM or no degree in CRM.

On the other hand, students majoring in Criminology may derive a number of benefits from such a degree. They will learn more in the classroom and may even find their potential employer boosting their entry-level salary as a reward for receiving the degree.

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