This course introduces an examination of the field of criminology. Major topics include definitions of, and the basic assumptions that are used to formulate, criminological theories. Causes of crime and crime rates, United States and international comparisons, and a review of the current direction of research within the study of crime are also discussed.

Syllabus – Spring 2023

This course features the research of faculty members and other researchers and policymakers involved in local, national, and international criminal justice.. It offers an opportunity to interact with criminal justice stakeholders and gain knowledge about cutting edge research within the fields of criminology and criminal justice.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Describe the goals and breadth of research in criminology and criminal justice.
2. Develop critical and creative thinking skills through an in-depth exploration of how criminologists evaluate arguments and information in order to create the foundations for their research.
3. Be conversant with the diverse modes of inquiry and methodological approaches employed by criminologists to understand crime and justice.

This course provides a general overview of the theory and practice of legal punishment in the United States. It documents the evolution of correctional institutions and correctional systems including interactions between corrections and other components of State/Federal criminal justice systems (i.e., Courts, Police, State legislatures). This course also explores theories on the various uses and functions of punishment, as well as approaches to prisoner management within and beyond prison walls (i.e., jails, parole, community corrections) with an emphasis on social, political and economic dilemmas associated with mass incarceration and prisoner reentry.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Articulate the historical roots and contemporary functions of the institutional and community corrections systems in the United States.
2. Demonstrate an in depth knowledge about the subsystems that make up the American correctional system such as prisons, jails, probation, and parole, as well as alternative sanctions.
3. Articulate potential collateral consequences brought about by processing individuals through a correctional system, as well as the potential social, political, and economic ramifications of expanding correctional resources.
4. Analyze the roles and functions of corrections in the broader criminal justice system.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course explores criminal laws and judicial opinions that influence the policies, procedures, personnel, and clients of the criminal justice system in the United States. Specific topics include, but are not limited to, the origin, development, and continuing changes in criminal law, administration of criminal justice, and the criminal courts.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Describe the jurisdiction, history, and structure of the judicial system in the United States.
2. Discuss the various sources of law in the United States.
3. Analyze judicial opinions that have shaped the American policy landscape as well as the procedures used by the broader criminal justice system.
4. Explain the roles that the various actors and stakeholders within the American court system play, and how they interface more broadly with other actors and stakeholders within the criminal justice system.

This course explores the causes and rates of delinquent behavior. Investigates the nature and operation of the juvenile justice system, and provides comparisons between the purpose and functioning of the juvenile justice system in comparison to the adult criminal justice system. Issues of juvenile waiver to adult courts, important due process safeguards afforded to juveniles, and international comparisons are discussed.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Explain the historical origins of the juvenile justice system, the changing societal views towards the punishment and/or treatment of minors within the American justice system as well as the origins of delinquency.
2. Discuss the concept of parens patriae and identify and interpret major Supreme Court cases that ushered in the due process revolution in the juvenile court.
3. Analyze and critique the major theoretical explanations for the sources of delinquency behavior from psychological, sociological, and criminal justice perspectives.
4. Demonstrate an increased knowledge about how the juvenile justice system fits within the broader criminal justice system within the United States.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course explores ethical and philosophical issues and moral dilemmas within the field of criminal justice, including principles of justice, deontology and utilitarianism, philosophical issues in sentencing, police and ethics, ethics and research, and the scope of state control are discussed in this course.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Explain the study of ethics as a necessary component of the criminal justice system, and how ethics apply to the system’s major institutions.
2. Describe and explain different types of theories related to ethics.
3. Apply ethical principles and theories to the decision-making mechanisms of actors and stakeholders within the criminal justice system.
4. Analyze ethical dilemmas that are experienced by criminal justice actors.

This course examines the various types of data used within criminal justice and the fundamentals of statistics and analysis. It also provides an analysis of the appropriate use of data, the limits of various methods, how data are collected, and how to interpret findings. Policy implications of data will also be discussed. Prerequisite: 21:62:202:301 and the basic undergraduate math requirement. Required Course – B.S., B.A. Cannot be used to complete a minor in Criminal Justice (waived if minor declared before spring 2022). 

Course Learning Goals:

1. Define the main characteristics of research designs.
2. Distinguish the levels of measurements and types of variables.
3. Choose, apply, and correctly interpret summary measures.
4. Visualize distributions of continuous and categorical variables.
5. Calculate and interpret measures of association.
6. Explain the principles of statistical inference.
7. Test hypotheses using bivariate analytic techniques.
8. Conduct basic statistical analyses by hand and using computer software.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course provides an in-depth survey of changing social values about gender, changing criminal codes about sex crimes, changing law enforcement policies and procedures in prosecuting sex crimes, and emerging legal doctrines about privacy and sexual rights. Gender differences in crime commission and the types of crimes committed, as well as issues centering on criminal justice processing are explored.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Explore theories addressing female criminality, as well as differences between theories explaining male and female offending.
2. Discuss the historical and socio-cultural construction of gender and how it influences agency and disempowerment.
3. Increase understanding about the differences in the treatment of men and women as they are processed through the criminal justice system.
4. Evaluate the roles that women play as employees in criminal justice agencies.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between violence and criminal behavior. It assesses the theoretical basis of violence by investigating its anthropological, biological, and sociological explanations and roots. It includes in-depth investigations of how and why violence occurs within the contexts of individuals, groups, and societies.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Discuss methodological issues in measuring violence in society.
2. Compare and contrast different contexts in respect to violence perpetration; such as social class and violence, violence in the family, between- and within-race violence, gender and violence, and the link between mental illness and violence.
3. Identify causes of youth violence and the origins of youth gangs.

This course covers various topics that are considered to be critical law enforcement problems. Specific areas of inquiry include how to police organized crime, alcohol and drugs, the policing of civil and natural disturbances, and the diffusion and multiplicity of police agencies. Discussion of issues within crime reporting by the police, assessment difficulties, and public reactions to law enforcement and order maintenance strategies used by the police are covered in this course. Administrative problems of staffing, supervision, employee morale and militancy, and public charges are also critically discussed. Writing Intensive Course– B.S., B.A.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the critical issues in policing including use of force, management and organization, subculture, discretion, accountability, use of new technologies, evaluations of success, legitimacy, ethic, accountability, and professionalism.
2. Identify and explain a variety of contemporary approaches used by the police to control and reduce crimes with evidence-based practices.
3. Describe the role and function of police in a society and the impact of law enforcement on crime and public support.
4. Apply theoretical knowledge of policing strategies to real life scenarios.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course explores crime through the critical lens of anthropology by situating criminal acts as consequences of the complexity and nuances of human interactivity and cultural heterogeneity. Crime and punishment in other societies, especially non-Western societies that lack institutional systems of criminal justice, and the social evolution of crime and crime-related institutions throughout the United States of America’s history are particular topics that are discussed in this course. Writing Intensive Course – B.S., B.A.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Analyze various crimes across nations and cultures.
2. Explore and critically analyze scholarly works on crimes across different nations and cultures.
3. Compare and contrast the workings of the criminal justice system in the United States to that in different nations and cultures.
4. Increase understanding and conceptualization of crime as a social phenomenon in the context of culture.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course considers how the everyday environment provides opportunities for crime as well as obstacles for carrying it out. Students that take this class will be involved in discussions about important methods for reducing crime by modifying or planning the built environment. Discussions about how environmental design may produce and places that make crime commission more or less opportune are covered in this class. Moreover, the course offers an alternative theory of crime based on the opportunity to carry it out.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Discuss the historical roots of the study between the relationship between ecology and crime.
2. Critically assess theories of environmental criminology.
3. Demonstrate an understanding about analytic strategies and tools that are used to study crime patterns and events as they relate to the convergence of place, space, and time.
4. Assess the role of situational factors and criminal opportunities in explaining crime events, and how these can be used to guide prevention and control strategies.

This course provides a historical and theoretical overview of organized crime, as well as a specific understanding of its variety. It examines the structures of organized crime and the varieties of businesses associated with traditional and nontraditional organized crime groups.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Identify the various classifications of organized crime.
2. Interpret laws relating to organized crime.
3. Explain theories of organized crime causation.
4. Discuss the historical perspectives of organized crime, its origins, growth, and persistence.
5. Assess and critique policy strategies for organized crime prevention and enforcement.
6. Evaluate the economic and social impacts of organized crime.

This course introduces analyzing and mapping crime and other public safety data using open-sourced and web-based applications, as well as ArcGIS geographic information system (GIS) software. It provides opportunities to make and analyze maps and to develop a solid base upon which to build further expertise in crime mapping and GIS.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Develop the theoretical and practical skills necessary for studying crime in a geographic context.
2. Explore data sources for understanding the geography of crime.
3. Use computer-mapping software as a tool for examining crime in a variety of geographic settings.
4. Describe how crime mapping is being used in criminal justice agencies.

This course examines the development of anti-social and criminal of behavior from childhood through old age, including patterns of onset, persistence, intermittence, and desistance. What is known about why and how people start and stop committing crime at various ages, and the different types of crimes that are typically committed by people at different ages are specific topics covered in this course.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Develop an understanding of the life course perspective of studying crime.
2. Evaluate and critique the basic theories, concepts, and research methods used by life course criminologists.
3. Identify and interpret patterns of criminal onset, persistence, intermittence, and desistance within the lens of life course criminology.

This course provides a critical and interdisciplinary examination of the current functioning of the American criminal justice system, focusing specifically on the procedures used by various criminal justice actors that can lead to errors in case processing and unjust outcomes. Students that take this course will examine policies and practices of the United States’ criminal justice system (e.g., police procedure, prosecution, jury selection, scientific evidence, appellate court procedures, etc.) that unintentionally contribute to the wrongful apprehension, prosecution, conviction, incarceration, and even execution of the innocent. Moreover, we explore the collateral consequences of punishing “false positives,” including implications for undermining the legitimacy of the criminal justice system and allowing impunity for culpable offenders who remain at-large.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Describe and explain the mechanisms, dynamics, and situational and social context of wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice in the United States.
2. Examine and critique policies and practices that contribute to miscarriages of justice.
3. Analyze how the media influences and shapes public discourses about the criminal justice system in regards to miscarriages of justice.
4. Examine theories that articulate how wrongful convictions occur, sources of error, and proposed remedies for what can be done to minimize and/or prevent future errors.

First-hand experience in the day-to-day operation of a criminal justice agency in government, research or non-profit settings. Internship placements are supervised by the person designated to supervise the course (i.e., the SCJ Director of Community Outreach) and a practitioner in the field-placement area. Interested students must meet with the course supervisor to receive approval for the placement and permission to enroll. There are 3 required classes over the course of the semester; 2 weeks after the semester begins, mid-term/ 75 completed hours and final 150 completed. Participation is mandatory. The course is graded pass/fail.  Click here for more details.

American society tends to hold itself up as an arbiter of justice and equality, domestically and globally. Upon scrutiny, however, the topic of inequality reveals itself to be an epistemological aporia in which starkly oppositional ideas and frameworks are all held up as social goods, whether within American social practice, theoretical debate, academic discourse, or lived experience. This course addresses one, central question: How is it that institutions and nations with expressed intentions of achieving freedom, justice, fairness, and democratic thriving often end up both exacerbating injustice and deepening inequality?   Required Course

Course Learning Goals:

1. Discuss the concept of inequality in social, political, racial, economic, and gendered capacities.
2. Identify key theoretical and methodological perspectives on inequality and eruditely comment on those perspectives, their benefits, and drawbacks.
3. Gain a sense of inequality beyond the scope of a single cultural, racial, economic or gendered perspective, including its intersectional forms.
4. Evaluate and identify enduring and recurring political or social processes and phenomena beyond the contemporary world with which they are familiar, such as the presence of inequality in multiethnic societies.
5. Develop and deepen a personal view about the nature of inequality, and gain skills as a critical consumer of relevant research and popular media.
6. Examine the discourse of inequality from multiple time periods and multiple voices.
7. Produce critical and original academic work which explores inequality, drawing on both interdisciplinary reading and students’ own lived experiences.

This course is a research-based seminar designed for students demonstrating the academic maturity and preparation to pursue a thesis project independently. Students will draw on their knowledge of theory, methods, and policy learned in core and elective courses to analyze and propose a research plan on an important topic in criminal justice. Required Course

Course Learning Goals:

1. Locate and identify appropriate sources of scholarly research.
2. Synthesize and evaluate information from sources.
3. Develop research questions or specific hypothesis relevant to previous research.