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What Can I Do With A Degree In Law and Society?

Become A Law Enforcement Officer


What is a Law Enforcement Officer?

Human Resources

LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS are government officials responsible for protecting people and property through enforcing laws and legal codes defining lawful and unlawful acts within specific jurisdictions. State- and local-level Law Enforcement Officers have legal authority to make arrests, investigate suspicious behaviors related to misdemeanors or felonies, conduct searches and seizures, and provide courtroom testimony. Federal Law Enforcement Officers enforce federal laws and regulations on behalf of federal agencies. Their primary responsibilities include protecting government personnel and property and conducting investigations on incidents ranging from policy violations to major felonies and organized crime. Law enforcement officers’ other duties include crime scene assessments, interviewing witnesses, and preparing cases for prosecution by Federal, State, or City prosecutors, as well as maintaining safety and security for people and property in government facilities.

What Employers Look For

Many employers look for universal skills such as communication, cultural awareness, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and the ability to work collaboratively. To be marketable in today’s workforce, persons should strengthen their abilities be flexible while adapting to change in a technological, diverse, and dynamic society. Skills such as resilience, problem solving, and adaptability are valuable at work and elsewhere.

How Law And Society Enhances Career Development

The Law and Society program provides students with essential preparation for successful, law-related careers and responsible citizenship. Academic excellence is achieved through a student-centered learning environment combining theoretical knowledge and practical application.  Students are exposed to social science research about law and lawbreaking and develop the ability to think creatively and critically about human behavior, societal understandings of normality and deviance, and systemic problems in the American legal system and law enforcement. Law and Society majors are guided through a curriculum that prepares students to become conscientious, responsible change-agents in their future careers.

How Sociology Prepares Students For A Career As A Law Enforcement Officer

Students majoring in Law and Society are required to complete 33-34 credit hours of coursework in specified Sociology courses.

The degree focus consist of fifteen (15) required credit hours of coursework designed to build a foundation in sociological inquiry and quantitative methods, and nine (9) credit hours of Law and Process courses, and nine hours of sociology electives.

Targeted coursework for a career as a Law Enforcement Officer include

  • SOC 220 Social Problems
  • SOC 324 Criminology
  • SOC 328 Criminal Justice
  • SOC 402 Sociological Theory
  • SOC 326 Social Conflict and Criminal Justice
  • SOC 352 Drug, Culture, and Society
  • SOC 411 Social Inequality
  • SOC 419 Sociology of Law
  • SOC 426 Social Deviance and Control