Criminal Justice

This degree is designed for any student who is interested in a career in criminal justice and any sworn law enforcement officer who desire to increase their proficiency or to improve their professional career opportunities. Law enforcement officers who have successfully completed an approved Cecil County Sheriff’s Office Training Academy may be awarded up to 31 credits of coursework for academy training. Interested students who want to take advantage of this option will need to present a Maryland Police and Training Commission certification card or official transcripts and graduation certificate to be considered. Detention Center officers who have successfully completed an approved Cecil County Detention Center Training program may be awarded up to 13 credits of course work for successfully completed academy training. Interested students who want to take advantage of this option will need to present official transcripts and a graduation certificate to be considered.

To enroll in this program, contact Charlie O’Brien, the primary advisor for the Criminal Justice program, at (410) 287-1895. To be eligible for the 31 credits, applicants must apply to the college admissions; complete the credential assessment form and send the form, along with the required credentials to the Cecil College registrar, Dr. Tomeka Swan, One Seahawk Drive, North East, Maryland 21901.

In addition, all students who seek enrollment at Cecil College must take placement tests in English and mathematics if they have never taken a college-level English and/or math course.

For students to be successful in the courses they take at Cecil College, they must be ready for college-level work. To ensure that students are ready for college-level courses, the state of Maryland requires that all students be assessed in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics before enrolling in credit-level courses. If a student does not receive the appropriate score on placement tests, he or she will be placed in the applicable developmental-level course(s).

Yes, you can be exempt from the placement tests if you:

• have taken college-level English and/or math and can obtain the official transcripts showing that you have passed these courses at another college;
• have taken the college-level Accuplacer tests given at another college and scored at an appropriate level within the last two years; or
• have taken the SAT math test and scored 500 or higher, or the ACT math test and scored 21 or higher.

Placement tests are given by Testing Services inside the Academic Success Center, located in the Engineering and Math Building, room 310. Students must bring their Social Security number (SSN) and photo ID when they come to test. Each skills assessment takes approximately 45 minutes. Please allow 2-3 hours to take all 3 subject assessments if necessary. For more information about placement tests or their hours of operation, call Testing Services at (410) 287-1015.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission allows Maryland colleges to award credits via credential assessment provided that learning can be verified through various means of assessment and that it is equivalent to the learning gained through formal collegiate instruction. Since officers who have completed their education through a Maryland approved training academy have undergone a rigorous educational experience related to criminal justice/law, it has been determined that law enforcement officials have met these requirements. The articulated courses include:

To complete the Associate of Science in Criminal Justice, you will need to complete 29 credits in addition to the 31 articulated credits in criminal justice courses. Of those 29 credits, 15 credits must be taken at Cecil College. The remaining course to be completed are:

The Maryland Higher Education Commission allows Maryland colleges to award credits via credential assessment provided that learning can be verified through various means of assessment and that it is equivalent to the learning gained through formal collegiate instruction. Since officers who have completed their education through a Maryland approved training academy have undergone a rigorous educational experience related to criminal justice/law, it has been determined that detention center officials have met these requirements. The articulated courses include:

To complete the Associate of Science in Criminal Justice, you will need to complete 47 credits in addition to the 13 articulated credits in Criminal Justice courses. Of those 47 credits, 15 credits must be taken at Cecil College. The remaining course to be completed are:

Much of the coursework can be completed in an online format. Online courses are taught entirely over the Internet using Blackboard™ and require students to have off-campus Internet access.

In many instances yes, since the course may be required to meet state regulations associated with granting that degree. However, there may be opportunities for substitution of courses in some areas. For example, while Statistics is the preferred math course for this degree, another higher level math may be substituted upon review from the department chair. However, students will need 4 credits of math to meet the degree requirement and can work with their advisor on how to do so. Many of the courses not only meet degree requirements, but also transfer and contribute to the completion of a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice.

You must complete at least 15 of the required remaining credits at Cecil College in order to obtain the Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice. However, if you have transfer credit(s) from another accredited college/university, you may have those official transcripts sent to the Cecil College Registrar for evaluation. For Sheriff’s Officer Academy graduates, if those courses meet the requirements for the program, up to 14 credits can be transferred in. For Detention Center Academy graduates, up to 32 credits can be transferred in.

Yes. The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) provides nationally recognized credit for learning gained through experience or independent learning. Cecil College will award credit for the CLEP exams listed in Appendix D of the college catalog, provided the minimum passing score of 50 (computerized version) has been met. Students interested in learning more about CLEP should contact an academic advisor. Students must have official CLEP score reports sent to Records and Registration at Cecil College.

Additionally, students who have extensive knowledge or training in an area may be eligible to ‘test out’ of a content area and receive credit for that course. For example, if a student is fluent in Spanish, the test out option for Spanish 101 may be a viable option. There is a fee associated with the assessment for testing out of a subject area and receiving credits.

Of course, any student, desiring to enhance their knowledge are welcome to take additional coursework. Please see the advisor or criminal justice faculty member for guidance.

All costs for tuition, fees and books are the responsibility of each student. Tuition and fees are at the current tuition rate for either in-county or out-of-county students, depending on circumstances.

Cecil College has articulation agreements with Bowie University, Coppin University, Frostburg University, Mount St. Mary’s University, Notre Dame of Maryland University, Towson University, and University of Maryland-University College. These agreements allow students who have graduated from the AAS in Criminal Justice degree program to transfer all their credits to one of these four-year institutions.

In addition, many bachelor's degrees require some additional general education course work that can be taken at Cecil College. Please see the advisor for Criminal Justice for specific transfer information.