Course descriptionThe Certificate in Crime Analysis is designed to meet the growing demand for criminal justice professionals with applied quantitative and analytic skills. The curriculum provides the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform as entry-level crime analysts in Federal, State, and local criminal justice agencies. The certificate also prepares students for a broader role as intelligence analysts.
Crime analysts typically perform detailed statistical analyses of crime data, prepare periodic reports on criminal activity and trends, identify emerging crime patterns, and communicate their fi ndings to a variety of internal and external audiences. They may analyze a wide variety of data including arrests, convictions, known criminal associates, and other criminal intelligence data, in order to explore relationships and identify patterns and correlations in support of investigative efforts. These data come from diverse sources, including existing agency databases, fi nancial and telecommunications records, and the Internet. Crime analysts must be skilled in manipulating data and creating relational databases that can accommodate a wide variety of data formats and sources.
Foundation Courses
Advanced Criminological Theory
Examination of classic and contemporary theoretical explanations of crime from multiple criminological perspectives.
Statistical Analysis
Examination of the basic concepts and measures in statistical analysis, probability theory, statistical inference, and bivariate and multivariate analyses, correlational relationships, t-tests, ANOVA, and regression.
Statistics Lab
Quantitative analyses with SPSS and then application of these quantitative techniques to interpret current criminal justice research.
Advanced Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Current methods and techniques for conducting research in criminal justice including research design, sampling, survey research, fi eld research, and program evaluation.
Advanced Crime Assessment
Overview of the history, theory, and practice of crime assessment and crime analysis.
Crime Mapping
Introduction to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map and analyze crime patterns.
Data and Intelligence Analysis in Criminal Justice
Application of criminal intelligence methods to current problems faced by Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
Elective Courses
Qualitative Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Qualitative research design, methods, and techniques including content analysis, focus groups, case studies, interviewing, fi eld work observation, participant observation, and ethnography in deviance, criminology, and criminal justice.
Typologies of Crime and Criminal Behavior
Examination of research on criminal behavior and crime types through discussion of the ways in which theories of criminal behavior and typology research has been applied in the criminal justice system.
Issues in Contemporary Law Enforcement
Seminar on current issues in contemporary law enforcement.
Terrorism and Homeland Security
Examination of the complex concepts and issues associated with global terrorism, U.S. homeland security and the role of law enforcement.
Data Management in Business
Introduction to the management and analysis of corporate data.
Data Mining for Business Intelligence
Introduction to a set of technologies to provide business intelligence by analyzing massive amounts of complex data to fi nd patterns that can be used to guide decisions.
Economics and Business Forecasting
Techniques for applied business forecasting with emphasis on time-series methods.