Discover Service above Self in Criminal Justice

By Professor Sean Lovell

When hearing the words ‘criminal justice’, most of us think of uniformed men and women policing streets in our communities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!  Such may be true. However, there are many specialized careers in the U.S. criminal justice service that students may pursue. 

The U.S. criminal justice system comprises three parts:  Law enforcement, courts, and corrections.  OCU’s Criminal Justice Program covers these and much more.  The program provides knowledge across the spectrum of criminal justice system operations.  It uniquely integrates classroom lecture and discussion with hands-on practical application of concepts, procedures, and techniques.  This format enables students to experience simulations of performing traffic stops, crisis negotiation, building searches, and processing crime scenes—examples of real-life specialized work situations.

OCU Criminal Justice students experience networking at its best through visits with professionals in a myriad of criminal justice careers, including the roles of court officers, corrections personnel, law enforcement officers, forensic experts, homeland security officers, among others.  They visit federal agencies during their Washington D.C. Experience trip.

Students in the Criminal Investigations course participate in a curriculum which builds upon itself culminating in practical application of crime scene processing for a final examination.  There are many facets to investigating crimes, so students start learning what it means to investigate crimes-incidents and move into the “how” phase of learning.  They learn to interview and interrogate, write reports, collect and identify evidence, take photographs, techniques for searching, and finally attend a 16-Step Crime Scene processing lecture with a practical application.  Students transform from the “crawl stage to the walking stage” throughout the semester culminating in the illustrious Crime Scene Processing Final Exam.  If you’ve marveled at Sherlock Holmes or Inspector Morse, here you become the detective!

Criminal Justice Program student culminate their studies with an internship at a criminal justice organization of their choosing.  Each seals their major with a Criminal Justice Capstone course that provides an opportunity to synthesize their knowledge of the components of the criminal justice system and integrate their coursework learning to solve a complex problem in preparation for a career in criminal justice.

If God is calling you to serve in criminal justice, then we can provide the vehicle with which you can fulfill God’s plan and journey well-equipped into the world that needs Christian leaders to guide and help transform others in building God’s kingdom!