TESC Criminal Justice Degree

[defscarlett]

I'm also considering changing my major to Criminal Justice, I'm trying to figure out how the DSST and Penn Foster courses would fit into this degree... Does anyone have any experience with this?

II. Area of Study: Criminal Justice 33
A. Required Courses 15
Justice Administration
Introduction to Criminal Justice
(3)
Public Policy and Criminal Justice
Select one of the following courses:
Public Policy, Crime and Criminal Justice
Any social policy course
(3)
Criminal Law
Select one of the following courses:
Constitutional Issues
Criminal Law related courses
(3)
Criminal Behavior and Victimology
Select one of the following courses:
Victimology and Criminal Behavior
Any Criminal Behavior course
Any Victimology course
(3)
Research Methods
Select one of the following courses:
Research Methods in Social Sciences
Criminal Justice Research Methods
(3)
B. Capstone 3
LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone
(3)
C. Criminal Justice Electives*
Juvenile Delinquency
Gangs
White Collar Crime
Forensic Science
Terrorism
Critical Thinking for Homeland Security
Counterterrorism
Homeland Security: Preparedness, Prevention, and Deterrence
Protecting the Homeland: Response and Deterrence

[sanantone]

Someone used Penn Foster CJ courses toward the Social Science degree. I don't know if you were grandfathered in, but TESC no longer awards credit for both the Intro to CJ and Intro to LE DSSTs. They aren't even coded the same, but you can only get credit for one test. In addition to Penn Foster, Propero also offers a lot of criminal justice courses. I thought about putting together a CJ plan using PF and Propero courses. It's a rather simple degree to put together.

Intro to CJ - DSST
Public Policy and Criminal Justice - I haven't found an alternative for this.
Criminal Law - Propero or PF
Criminology or Victimology - Propero or PF
Research Methods - Possibly the Uexcel for Research Methods in Psychology
Criminal Justice Electives - (a ton of options to choose from) Just choose any criminal justice course and make sure you have the 18 UL credits. I received UL credit for correctional systems, American Juvenile Justice System, and Intelligence and Homeland Security. Penn Foster's Terrorism and Victimology should be UL. When I was briefly in the program, substance abuse could be used in the major. So, look into taking the Substance Abuse DSST for UL credit.

Courses | Propero | Pearson
ACE CREDIT | The National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training

[defscarlett]

What would be the benefit of taking one program over the other?

Also will all homeland security courses fill the program electives section?

[KayV]

Here's a list of Penn Foster CJ courses and their TESC equivalencies according to a PLA search I did over the summer. These courses were all current last summer, but PLEASE CHECK the ACE website to verify before you take a class, and get approval from TESC as well.
1. Administration of Justice Ethics and the Administration of Justice (AOJ-284)
2. Business Law I Business Law (LAW-201)
3. Business Law II Business Law II (LAW-202)
4. Correctional Institutions Psychology of Incarceration (PSY-330) or Sociology of Incarceration (SOC-309)
5. Courts The American Court System (AOJ-351)* or The Judicial System (POS-387)
6. Criminal Law Criminal Law (AOJ-251)
7. Criminal Procedures Criminal Procedures, Laws, Rules, Practices (AOJ-221)
8. Criminalistics Introduction to Criminalistics (AOJ-241)
9. Criminology Criminology (AOJ-103)
10. Crisis Intervention Crisis Intervention (SOC-305) or Crisis Intervention (AOJ-314)*
11. Evidence Law & Evidence (AOJ-243)
12. Human Resources Management Human Resources Management (HRM-331)
13. Introduction to Criminal Justice Introduction to Criminal Justice (AOJ-102)
14. Introduction to Private Security Intro.to Private Security (MAN-211) or Introduction to Security (AOJ-131)
15. Juveniles and the Legal Process The Juvenile Offender (AOJ-362)*
16. Multicultural Law Enforcement possibly Cultural Diversity in the United States (SOC-322)
17. Organizational Behavior Organizational Behavior (HRM-311) or (MAN-311) or (PSY-361)
18. Organized Crime Organized Crime (SOC-359)
19. Police Management Personnel Administration and Supervision (AOJ-370)*
20. Principles of Management Principles of Management (MAN-301)
21. Security and Loss Prevention Loss Prevention Techniques (INS-214) or Principles of Loss Prevention (AOJ-136)
22. Security Management Personnel Administration and Supervision (AOJ-370)*
23. Strategic Business Management Strategic Management (BUS-421)
24. Substance Abuse and Treatment in Criminal Justice Drug Abuse: Legal Issues and Treatment (AOJ-342)*
25. Supervision and Leadership Principles of Supervision (MAN-201)
26. Terrorism Terrorism (SOS-440)
27. Training Concepts Training & Development (HRM-365)
28. Victimology Victimology (PSY-364) or (SOC-339) or (AOJ-381)*
29. White Collar Crime White Collar Crime (AOJ-303)*
Oh, the asterisks indicate upper level AOJ classes. Hope this helps.

[sanantone]

Business law won't count as a CJ course. I had that course on my evaluation. Training Concepts and Development will also not count as a CJ course. Actually, you listed a lot of non-CJ courses. I don't know if that's accidental or intentional. Business courses like human resources management, strategic management, principles of management, principles of supervision, and organizational behavior will not be applied toward a CJ major.

[sanantone]

What would be the benefit of taking one program over the other?

It's obviously easier to avoid taking several TESC courses with the BA in CJ. Unless you're working in emergency management, the CJ degree will generally have more utility and flexibility than a homeland security/emergency management degree.

Also will all homeland security courses fill the program electives section?

Some of the homeland security courses can be used as CJ electives. Most emergency management and all FEMA courses will be inapplicable.

[defscarlett]

I meant Penn Foster vs. Propero

and these are the 3 HLS type courses that I have from AMU, do you think these would transfer over into the CJ program?

HLSS213 - Weapons of Mass Destruction Incident Command
HLSS215 - Regulatory Issues in Weapons of Mass Destruction
EDMG340 - Consequence Management

[sanantone]

Not too many people have taken Propero courses here, but the reviews so far are generally negative. I think Propero might also be slightly more expensive. I think the first two will count has CJ electives, but I'm not sure about the last one. Have you gotten an evaluation yet? If so, you can use the what-if feature in online student services.

Just for the heck of it, I had submitted my graduate transcript for evaluation when I applied for the BSBA CIS. These are security studies courses that are heavy on international relations, but TESC evaluated most of them as AOJ-499. Two of them were evaluated as HLS-499. In my opinion, some of these courses should have been counted as political science.

AOJ
Intro to Security Studies
Research Methods in Security Studies
Grand Strategy and National Security
Security Issues in the Middle East
Globalization and International Security
Peacekeeping and Stability Operations
Security Issues in Asia
Independent Research Course (Security Issues in Africa)
Security Issues in Europe
Political Economy of Latin America (I have no idea why this would be AOJ. I think the evaluation was done lazily.)

Homeland Security
Intelligence and National Security
Terrorism and National Security

HLS courses normally do count toward CJ electives.

[ironheadjack]

As sanantone said, if you search the forum you will find a few people with negative reviews regarding Propero.

Right now I am taking two Penn Foster courses that I got pre-approved as "SOC" classes, but could probably be transcribed as criminal justice; Organized Crime and Correctional Institutions. They are not hard at all, but they are very interesting.

[defscarlett]

My next question is, is what type of course is a social policy course???