Please note:

To view the Spring 2025 Academic Calendar, go to www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2025/spring.

School of Criminology | Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Simon Fraser University Calendar | Summer 2025

Criminology General

Certificate

This certificate is primarily directed toward undergraduates and criminal justice professionals, but is open to all. Those who hold a bachelor’s degree (in any field of study) should refer to the post baccalaureate diploma in criminology.

This certificate is not designed to satisfy specific employment credentials. Rather, the general certificate provides a basic theoretical and descriptive criminology foundation.

Certificate program courses are offered through the Centre for Distance Education to assist students to understand the complexities of illegal behaviors, as well as society’s reactions.

Units applied toward a certificate may not be applied toward any other Simon Fraser University certificate or diploma, but may be applied toward major program or minor program requirements, or toward a bachelor’s degree under the normal regulations governing those programs.

Program Declaration

Students are eligible to apply for entry to the criminology general certificate program if

  • they have been admitted to Simon Fraser University (or are in the process of being admitted); and
  • they have completed and received grades for ONE of the following courses, with a final grade of C- or better

CRIM 101 - Introduction to Criminology (3)
CRIM 131 - Introduction to the Criminal Justice System - A Total System Approach (3)
CRIM 135 - Introduction to Canadian Law and Legal Institutions: A Criminal Justice Perspective (3)
CRIM 220 - Research Methods in Criminology (3)
CRIM 230 - Criminal Law (3)

Admission, Program Declaration, and Continuation

Applicants must meet university undergraduate admission deadlines as shown in this Calendar. Application forms and official documents must be submitted to Student Services. In addition to applying for University admission, students apply in writing to the School of Criminology's advisor for certificate program declaration.

To continue in the program, students must maintain a 2.25 cumulative grade point average (CGPA)*. Students whose CGPA falls below 2.25 cannot enroll in any upper division CRIM courses.

*transfer students who meet the criminology program declaration requirements upon admission to SFU may use their admission CGPA for declaration purposes

Program Requirements

Students complete:

One of:

CRIM 103 - Psychological Explanations of Criminal and Deviant Behavior (3)
CRIM 104 - Sociological Explanations of Criminal and Deviant Behavior (3)

Plus all of:

CRIM 101 - Introduction to Criminology (3)
CRIM 131 - Introduction to the Criminal Justice System - A Total System Approach (3)
CRIM 135 - Introduction to Canadian Law and Legal Institutions: A Criminal Justice Perspective (3)
CRIM 220 - Research Methods in Criminology (3)
CRIM 230 - Criminal Law (3)

Plus two of:

Any PHIL 100 or 200 division course

POL 151 - Justice and Law (3)
PSYC 100 - Introduction to Psychology I (3)
PSYC 102 - Introduction to Psychology II (3)
SA 150 - Introduction to Sociology (S) (4)
STAT 203 - Introduction to Statistics for the Social Sciences (3) or STAT 205 - Introduction to Statistics (3)

Upper Division Course Access

Students with a minimum 2.25 CGPA are eligible to enroll in upper division criminology courses upon successful completion of 60 units and certificate declaration. Students pursuing the certificate independent of a degree program will be eligible to access these courses without completion of 60 units; in these cases, completion of lower division prerequisite courses may be required.

Graduation Requirements

Students must obtain a minimum grade of C- in all required courses. In addition to normal university grade point average requirements, the School of Criminology requires the following: for graduation, students must obtain a minimum 2.25 CGPA, 2.25 UDGPA, 2.25 criminology course CGPA (calculated on all CRIM courses completed at SFU), and 2.25 criminology course UDGPA (calculated on all upper division CRIM courses completed at SFU).