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Criminal Justice

Contact

Ramapo College Office of Admissions

McBride House 505 Ramapo Valley Road Mahwah, NJ 07430

p: (201) 684-7300
e: admissions@ramapo.edu
f: (201) 684-7964

About the Law and Society Major with Criminal Justice Concentration

Interested in how the criminal justice system works and how you could improve it? Thinking about a career in law? The Law and Society major with Criminal Justice concentration provides students with the opportunity to focus on various areas including juvenile justice, forensic genealogy, and transitional justice, and issues relating to the death penalty, and wrongful convictions.

A number of Law and Society Ramapo graduates enter law school each year including Boston College Law School, Georgetown Law, New York Law School, Pace Law School, Rutgers School of Law, John Jay College, Seton Hall, and Syracuse University. Ramapo also offers a joint B.A./J.D Degree with Seton Hall Law School; this guaranteed admissions program is designed so that high achieving high school students who meet outlined criteria can be accepted to Ramapo and be guaranteed admission to Seton Hall Law School four years later.

What You’ll Learn

Students will gain an understanding of crime in its broad societal context—social, cultural, political, and economic, both nationally and internationally, and the criminal justice system.

The Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Certificate Program

Along with earning a B.A. in Law and Society with a concentration in Criminal Justice, those interested in forensic genetic genealogy may consider Ramapo College’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Certificate Program. IGG combines traditional genealogy and genetic genealogy to provide investigative leads in cases involving violent crime and unidentified human remains. IGG can also be used to help exonerate the wrongfully convicted.

The vision of the IGG Center is to secure justice through the ethical and proficient use of investigative genetic genealogy. The Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) program at Ramapo College of New Jersey is an entry-level course in the practical application of IGG on investigative cases. It is designed to teach students how to work an IGG case from beginning to end.

Students will apply their skills by working on a real, unsolved IGG case involving unidentified human remains. Those in our education programs, including the IGG Certificate Program, have helped to resolve nearly a dozen cold cases since its inception in 2023.

Learn more about the IGG Certificate Program >



Classes You Can Take

See Full Program Requirements

Career Opportunities

Your Law and Society degree is a broad-based interdisciplinary study in the humanities and social sciences. That means that it provides a solid foundation for many career options, including public service, law enforcement, health care, social services, and legal administration.

A number of Law and Society Ramapo graduates enter law school each year including Boston College Law School, Georgetown Law, New York Law School, Rutgers School of Law, John Jay College and Syracuse University. Ramapo also offers a joint B.A./J.D Degree with Seton Hall Law School; this guaranteed admissions program is designed so that high achieving high school students who meet outlined criteria can be accepted to Ramapo and be guaranteed admission to Seton Hall Law School four years later.

Sample Job Titles and National Salary Ranges

Job TitleSalary Range
Lawyers, Judges, and Related WorkersNo Salary Data
Lawyers and Judicial Law ClerksNo Salary Data
Lawyers$69,240 - Varies
Judicial Law Clerks$41,000 - $61,200
Judges, Magistrates, and Other Judicial WorkersNo Salary Data
Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers$78,080 - $167,020
Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators$51,940 - $153,520
Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates$38,340 - $202,600
Legal Support WorkersNo Salary Data
Paralegals and Legal Assistants$35,980 - $87,960
Miscellaneous Legal Support WorkersNo Salary Data
Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers$32,900 - $97,560
Legal Support Workers, All Other$40,140 - $110,890
First-Line Supervisors of Law Enforcement WorkersNo Salary Data
First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers$85,590 - $133,750
First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives$109,680 - $172,810
Law Enforcement WorkersNo Salary Data

* Sources of Information: United States Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics (2020). For more information about careers and assistance in making your career plans, please contact Career Services (cahill@ramapo.edu) or visit www.ramapo.edu/careercenter/.

Hands-On Learning

As a Law and Society Major, you’ll dive deeper into your studies through independent study, field work, and your Senior Thesis. Popular internships for our students have included the Mahwah Police Department, Bergen County Police Department, Bergen County Municipal Court, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), county and city courts, law firms, and state senators. Recent internship highlights include the United Nations, White House, and the international law firm White & Case (Germany).

The Ramapo Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center offers another opportunity for Law and Society majors to obtain hands-on experience in a new and exciting field in the only undergraduate training program in IGG in the country. The IGG Workshop (LAWS 365), where students learn how to conduct IGG and work on real cases from the IGG Center, provides 4-credits towards the Law and Society major. After completing the IGG Workshop, select students may continue to work on real cases of violent crime, unidentified human remains, and wrongful convictions at the IGG Center

All students in law and society must write a substantial thesis as their capstone. The best theses are published in the Ramapo Journal of Law and Society (www.ramapo.edu/law-journal), one of the few undergraduate law and society journals in the country. The Journal is run by Ramapo students, most of whom are law and society majors.

Our students also have an opportunity to organize and participate in our signature event series, the World of Law and SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) Discussion Series. The program is open to the entire college community, and has featured speakers from, among others, the Bronx Defenders, Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, Children’s Rights, Center for Reproductive Rights, Legal Aid, American Friends Service Committee, Outten & Golden.

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