The Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice at San Francisco State University reflects a synthesis of theory and practice.
Field study is a requirement in every course and among the bases for a culminating experience.
Pedagogically, a comparative approach to analyses of criminal justice systems throughout the United States and in other nations and cultures over time is complemented by a requirement to examine cases and events according to multiple perspectives rather than any single view. The primary commitment on the part of the Criminal Justice Program faculty is to classroom teaching. Lecturers among the faculty are practitioners in agencies of criminal justice who bring enormous currency as well as abiding familiarity with development long term. At the same time, the Program faculty are well-published scholars immersed in research, and courses and classrooms house the benefits of that activity. Essential to an accurate appraisal of the Criminal Justice Program at SFSU is a distinction between education and training, for this is a curriculum and faculty geared to the former rather than the latter.