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The study of criminal justice at Briar Cliff is a special interdisciplinary program drawing from the disciplines of sociology, political science, psychology, and social work. It is designed to prepare a generalist at the undergraduate level for such career options as community policing and community corrections, juvenile diversion and monitoring, correctional institutions, court administration, probation and parole, victim reconciliation and mediation programs, security administration, and research and investigation.

The program assumes 1) that criminal justice agencies and programs are most effective when they promote relationships based on justice and charity, equity and reconciliation, relationships that should characterize all human communities; 2) that the use of coercive force should be practiced as part of a coherent set of values, attitudes, and skills designed to de-escalate situations of violence, lawlessness, vengeance and prejudice.