ONE OF THE LEADING CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE TEACHING & RESEARCH CENTRES IN THE WORLD.

The School began its program of teaching and research at Simon Fraser University in September 1975, under the direction of its founding chair, Dr. Ezzat Fattah, and from the outset provided a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to criminology. The master's program began in 1978 and the first doctoral candidates were admitted in 1985. In September 2006, the School of Criminology had a well-established undergraduate program with more than 900 majors/minors, over 125 doctoral and MA students, and a multidisciplinary teaching faculty consisting of 33 members.

The undergraduate curriculum is designed to assist students to acquire an in-depth understanding of the complexities of criminal and other deviant behaviour and of society's reaction to crime and deviance. Students concurrently acquire a theoretical and practical knowledge of the criminal justice system and its components, and gain insights into the philosophy, sociology and present state of several related areas of law, particularly the criminal law. Criminology courses are integrated with courses offered in a wide range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, political science, economics, history, philosophy, computing science and mathematics. Students are able to develop and pursue an interest in one of the different sectors of criminological inquiry and practice including crime prevention, corrections, law enforcement, law and law reform, research and policy analysis, restorative justice, and forensic science.

Undergraduate courses are offered in a number of sites other than the main campus on Burnaby Mountain. Courses are offered at the Harbour Centre Campus in downtown Vancouver, and the Surrey Campus. For those students unable to attend classes on campus a large number of criminology courses have been produced for on-line and distance education in cooperation with Simon Fraser University's Centre for On-line and Distance Education and students may now pursue a bachelor of arts in criminology or a post-baccalaureate diploma in criminology entirely through distance education. More information about our undergraduate program is available in the undergraduate section of this website.

The School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University is the largest of such departments in Canada with graduate programs offering post-baccalaureate studies in the discipline of criminology. The School's graduate programs concentrate on advanced academic study with a strong research emphasis, and assist students in acquiring theoretical, methodological and substantive knowledge and training in the pursuit and furtherance of criminological careers as researchers, teachers and practitioners.

More information about our graduate program is available in the graduate section of this website or by sending an email to crimgrad@sfu.ca