Dear Future Criminal Justice Student:

Congratulations on your decision to enter the exciting field of criminal justice! At Broward Community College we offer four different Associate Degrees in Criminal Justice. (An Associate degree is a two-year college program. Some students finish the Associates degree in less than two years. Other students, especially those who work or who have heavy family obligations, take longer than two years. It doesn't matter how long you take - what matters is that you achieve your goal and get your college education.)

One degree is the Associates in Arts (A.A.) in Criminology. This is a good degree to get if you think you will continue your college education beyond the A.A. degree. It gives you all the basics, such as math, science and humanities that you will need to eventually get a four-year bachelors degree. Because you would have to take so many other courses, you would only take about three or four criminal justice courses here at Broward Community College.

Our other degree programs are Associates in Science (A.S. degrees). We offer A.S. degrees in three areas: 1) criminal justice, 2) crime scene and 3) polygraph examination. The A.S. degree is good to take if you're not sure you will continue your college education after you receive the A.S. Unlike the A.A., which is more general, the A.S. offers a heavy emphasis in your field of study and better prepares you for immediate employment in criminal justice. In an A.S. degree program, you would take between eight to ten criminal justice courses.

Types of jobs for which you might qualify with an A.S. in Criminal Justice include: police officer, state police/state trooper, deputy sheriff, corrections (jail/prison) officer, US Customs inspector, US Immigration and Naturalization inspector, polygraph specialist, crime scene technician, community/police service aide and private security positions. Jobs that require a four year bachelors degree, for which an A.A. satisfies the first two years, include: probation/parole officer, juvenile counselor, social case worker and Special Agent for most of the Federal agencies, such as FBI, DEA or US Customs.

For general information on Broward Community College, visit our web site at: www.broward.edu If you have a specific question about BCC or the criminal justice program, feel free to contact me. My e-mail address is : ecohen@broward.edu and my phone number is (954) 201-6803. Our department phone number is (954) 201- 6791.
Again, congratulations and best of luck to you in all your endeavors.

Sincerely,
Elaine F. Cohen
Director of Education, Institute of Public Safety