Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice major at Nyack is designed to equip its students with the integrity and Christian character needed to face the unique challenges of working in the criminal justice field. With a biblical cornerstone, the program trains students to understand the legal, philosophical and moral foundations of the criminal justice system. Students are prepared to be community engagers as well as practitioners who seek to help and comfort.

Why Study Criminal Justice at Nyack?

The criminal justice program at Nyack is unique due to the emphasis on the restorative justice approach. Restorative justice is a philosophical framework which emphasizes the need to focus on the way in which crime harms relationships and communities. This framework is firmly rooted in the biblical principles of healing, restitution and reconciliation. The student’s educational experience culminates in a hands-on internship experience giving them the unique opportunity to gain practical experience, insight and skills into the criminal justice domain.

What Will I Study?

The program is structured to meet the content area mandates as recommended by the Academy of Criminal Justice Science. These mandates include having coursework in the following areas: administration of justice, corrections, criminological theory, law adjudication, law enforcement as well as research and analytic methods.

Students will be able to:

• theorize about crime and criminal behavior with an understanding of religious, cultural, legal and ethical factors.
• understand the political implications of crime and enforcement.
• successfully incorporate other topics in criminal justice (ethics, punishment, process) which mandates students to consider when applying criminal law.
• acquire knowledge of the limitations and misinterpretations associated with constitutional rights.
• understand the constitutional provisions most important to criminal law.
• self-analyze how personal values may conflict with the ethical standards held by criminal justice.
• demonstrate evidence of critical reflection on the concept of restorative justice.

Our Mission

Nyack College, a Christian and Missionary Alliance educational institution, through its undergraduate, graduate and seminary programs, pursues its historic mission of preparing men and women to “take the whole Gospel to the whole world.”

Core Values

Nyack seeks to exalt Jesus Christ and fulfill its mission by being:

Academically Excellent The academic excellence of Nyack has been recognized by the Middle States Commission on Accreditation, The New York State Department of Education, and The Association of Theological Schools.

Globally Engaged We live in a world that demands engagement from all of its citizens. Nyack will meet these 21st-century challenges with a commitment that for us dates back to the 19th century.

Intentionally Diverse Nyack is the most ethnically diverse Christian College in the history of American higher education. We celebrate this as an important part of both our effectiveness and our identity.

Personally Transforming This transformation is what occurs when students encounter Jesus Himself on our campus and abandon their citizenship of a self-centered, materialistic world in favor of becoming citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.

Socially Relevant Nyack graduates do more than take the words of Jesus to those who have never heard. Our graduates take the love of Jesus to those who have not known love.

A Little History

Over one hundred and thirty years ago, God ignited an overwhelming love for people of every race and tongue in the heart of a Canadian named A.B. Simpson. In those days, Simpson was pastor of a large and affluent church in Manhattan. In response to what God was doing in his own life, Simpson urged his congregants to reach out to the immigrants who were pouring into the city. He even went so far as to bring the poor and the downtrodden into his church. When he began to do this, many in the church were less than pleased.

So in a Sunday morning sermon in 1882, Simpson declared, “I am not interested in being a respectable Christian.” He left the church and began a new venture in which his burning desire to serve all people could be satisfied. He left his church to start a school in which people would be trained to take the Good News of God’s love wherever this news needed to be heard.

That school today is known as Nyack College.

Since its inception on the back of a Broadway stage in 1882, Nyack College has grown to become an institution of over 2,500 students pursuing a wide variety of graduate and undergraduate degrees on multiple campuses. At the heart of it all, is a burning commitment to bring the good news of God’s love wherever this news needed to be heard.

A.B. Simpson described this commitment as taking “the whole gospel” to “the whole world.” Today, as Nyack College serves students who represent “the whole world,” the result is a diverse and vibrant community unlike any other in higher education.