This course introduces the study of societal responses to crime and provides an explanation of why criminal justice should be thought of as a system. Specific topics include the study of the people and organizations that make up the criminal justice system including actors such as the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, and corrections officials. Major branches and functions of the criminal justice system including law enforcement and order maintenance, courts and sentencing, and corrections and reentry are covered. Required Course – B.S.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Explain the structure and functioning of the basic components of the criminal justice system including the police, courts, corrections, and the juvenile justice system.
2. Articulate how the criminal justice system is a dynamic and interdisciplinary system made up of many different people and agencies.
3. Describe the relationships among all parts and players of the criminal justice system as well as their relationships to other social systems and relevant stakeholders.
4. Critically analyze how policies and practices of criminal justice agencies may directly or indirectly affect other criminal justice agencies, social systems, and/or key stakeholders.

Syllabus – Fall 2023

The course examines the function of police in contemporary society; the problems arising between citizens and police from the enforcement and non-enforcement of laws are covered in this course. The mechanisms by which social changes impact the law enforcement and order maintenance functions of the police, interactions between the public and the police, and how these interactions impact police legitimacy are major topics that will be discussed.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Describe the history of policing in the United States, and analyze how the role of the police has developed and evolved in American society.
2. Critically analyze key components of American policing such as the use of discretion, the development of police subcultures, ethics and policing, and the relationship between policing and technological developments.
3. Articulate the historical roots of policing tactics such as stop and frisk, questioning suspects, the use of force, and search and seizure, and analyze their use in contemporary policing.
4. Analyze the roles and functions of the police in the broader criminal justice system.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

When urban governments and quasi-governmental activities do their jobs well, they can greatly reduce various types of crime. This course relates urban design and management to crime and crime reduction. Specific topics include public violence, abandonment, littering, public drunkenness, environmental degradation, safe parks, secure streets and campuses, robberies, teen hangouts, outdoor drug markets, and more. The course is presented through the critical lens of problem oriented policing, routine activity analysis, and situational crime prevention to reducing local crime.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Explain what crime prevention is, and be able to identify policy prescriptions aimed at crime prevention.
2. Assess and critique the major theories associated with crime prevention.
3. Articulate how crime prevention strategies are used to prevent various street and retail offenses.
4. Demonstrate an in depth knowledge, and become a critical consumer of the academic and applied evidence-bases that articulate crime prevention strategies.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course explores the U.S. Constitution and how it regulates the criminal justice system processes. This course will provide a historical overview of the Constitution, the formation of the legal system and the evolution of the Constitution through its Amendments.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Discuss the historical significance of constitutional interpretation relating to criminal offenses and criminal justice procedures, and the effect societal changes have on constitutional interpretation.
2. Identify, analyze, and interpret the constitutional principles that apply to procedural law and criminal investigations.
3. Identify and understand the Supreme Court cases commonly identified with criminal justice policy as well as demonstrate an understanding of the Court’s rationale behind its decisions.
4. Demonstrate an understanding about the issues and controversies involved with the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of them.

This course examines the theory and practice of major community-based correctional responses (such as probation, parole, and diversion programs) to people convicted of criminal offenses. Discussions centering on why community corrections is an important social movement, and the countermovement to abolish the discretionary parole release function, are offered in this course.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Articulate the historical roots of community corrections within the United States.
2. Develop an in depth knowledge about the functions of the different subsystems of community corrections including probation, parole, diversionary programs, and alternative sanctions.
3. Analyze and critique community corrections practices, and assess the evidence-base from which these practices stem.
4. Analyze the roles and functions of community corrections in the broader criminal justice system.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course develops the tools needed for conducting research and writing reports and scholarly papers in criminal justice. Students that take this course will become informed consumers of criminological research, and gain the tools to conduct their own basic research projects. Specific topics include the primacy of design, principles of reliability and validity, sampling theory, survey preparation, and the differences between, and strengths and detriments of, experimental and quasi- experimental designs. 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. Describe common methods of social science inquiry.
2. Discuss the linkage between research questions and research design.
3. Explore major debates about research methods, social science, and ethics in research.
4. Critically evaluate social scientific evidence and research.
5. Become better-informed consumers of new reports, political rhetoric, and public discussion about the social world and social scientific research.

Syllabus – Spring 2023

This course provides a worldwide overview of cultural and legal traditions related to crime. This worldview is used to fuel discussions about different approaches to law enforcement, criminal procedure and criminal law, corrections, and juvenile justice across locations and cultures.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Compare and contrast organizational behavior concepts, management practices, and legal traditions of policing, court, corrections, and juvenile justice systems among different countries around the world.
2. Evaluate the role of organizations across the world in setting criminal justice policies in different nations.
3. Critique components, processes, and mechanisms involved in comparing cross-cultural criminal justice contexts.
4. Discuss current events in justice systems in various countries across the world.

Syllabus – Fall 2023

This course examines cybercrime, its prevention, and its significance for law enforcement. These types of crimes include illicit attacks on personal computers, on computer systems, on people via computers, and more. They include theft of information via computers, spreading of harmful code, and stealing credit and other information. Particular discussions about the level of technical proficiency in cybercrime are covered in this course.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Demonstrate an in depth knowledge about the origin, development, trend and future of delinquency and crime in cyber space.
2. Analyze the causes, definitions, and typologies of cybercrime and cyber terrorism as well as the structure and functioning of basic Information and Technology infrastructures and their vulnerabilities.
3. Articulate the dynamic relationships among cybercriminals, victims, Information Technology society and cyber policing.
4. Discuss critically the policies and practices of policing on cybercrime might affect other criminal justice agencies, social systems, and/or key stakeholders.

This course examines how race is related to crime, victimization, punishment, and interactions with the criminal justice system. The course considers how race is defined at societal, cultural, and individual levels, how these definitions are malleable, and how this affects criminal justice policy.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Define race, ethnicity, gender, as well as other relevant sociopolitical concepts.
2. Examine the criminal justice system and its impact on people of color, and ethnic groups that constitute the minority population in the United States.
3. Analyze, interpret, and critique the major theoretical perspectives tying together race and crime, and understand how these perspectives have changed over time.
4. Analyze policies and practices of the police, courts, and corrections systems and how they can differentially impact racial and ethnic minorities.

Syllabus – Fall 2023

This course focuses on crimes organized by persons whose economic, political, and/or privileged positions facilitate the commission of illegal activities. The course will include critical assessments of how white-collar crime is defined and understood, and the similarities and differences between white-collar crimes and other criminal activities. The costs, investigative procedures, challenges with measuring, and long-term potential consequences of white-collar crimes are discussed. Writing Intensive Course– B.S., B.A.

 Course Learning Goals:

1. Analyze acts that constitute white collar crimes and draw parallels between white collar and conventional criminological actives.
2. Articulate the major theories that explain white collar crimes, and the principal research findings associated with the major theory.
3. Analyze case studies of white collar crimes in order to explore themes around victimization, social damages, and criminal justice, and broader policy responses.
4. Explore and critique different philosophies of punishing white collar crime.

Syllabus – Fall 2023

This course explores the impact of alternatives to incarceration, the growing prisoner rights movement, strikes by correctional employees, and public resentment toward persistently high rates of recidivism. In addition, the class provides an in-depth study of issues concerning correctional education, job training, work release, and post-incarceration employment.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the current issues faced by the United States’ institutional and community corrections systems.
2. Critically assess criminological theories used to explain corrections and punishment.
3. Analyze contemporary evidence-based strategies aimed at reducing rates of incarceration and recidivism.
4. Analyze the history and development of the corrections system in the United States to provide context to contemporary problems.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course explores juvenile street gangs, when they exist, when they are illusory, and public reactions to them. It also considers co-offending by juveniles who are not necessarily gang members. The course considers what gang membership means, and when gangs are cohesive or not. It examines variations among juvenile street gangs, and contrasts these with other groups of youth that are sometimes called “gangs.”

Course Learning Goals:

1. Articulate how gangs are defined, and why these groups are considered a major social problem.
2. Discuss the role that race, ethnicity, and gender play in the formation and activities of street gangs.
3. Assess the role of gangs in relation to crime, drugs, and violence.
4. Critique programs and policies that have attempted to address the problem of gangs in the United States and other contexts.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course examines how drug policies are formed, how they change over time, and how they travel across the world. You will engage with innovative research on the prevalence and nature of both legal and illegal drug use, the effects of drug trade on political instability, and how drug policies create and sustain inequality. We will also discuss relative merits and the evidence base for public health approaches to drug policy on the one hand, and punitive approaches on the other. Course topics may include prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century, the effects of cannabis legalization, and the contemporary opioid epidemic. The course perspective will be decidedly comparative and global.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical and political emergence of drug control policies in the United States and globally.
2. Identify the main characteristics of dominant drug control policies, and how effective they are in reducing drug use and illegal drug trade.
3. Explain how punitive approaches to drug use are different from public health approaches that focus on harm reduction and decriminalization.
4. Articulate the role of dominant drug control policies in creating and sustaining racial inequality, with a particular focus on the criminal justice system.

This course focuses on the assessment, development, prevention, and treatment of youth violence among children and adolescents. Understanding and preventing youth violence is a major focus of the nation’s policy agenda and involves research and practice in the mental health, public health, psychiatry, and criminal justice communities. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, the course reviews the biological, social, and psychological underpinnings of youth violence, and discuss how policymakers and practitioners at all levels deal with this problem.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Discuss the historical roots of youth violence within a criminal justice context.
2. Describe research findings about causes of youth violence.
3. Assess the consequences of youth violence to individuals, families, and communities.
4. Analyze and critique the evidence-base about policy prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of youth violence.

Syllabus – Spring 2023

This course examines trends in mass incarceration, their sources, and their direct and indirect effects on society. Since 1970, incarceration rates in the United States have quintupled and are now higher than those in any other country in the world. These huge increases in mass incarceration over a short period of time have persisted through periods when crime was rising, and even in the more recent time periods when crime has been falling. Apart from the dubious effects of mass incarceration on public safety suggested by these divergent trends, mass incarceration also has substantial collateral consequences across society, affecting families, communities, the labor market, the military, political processes, and the use of taxpayer dollars.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Examine the criminal justice system and its impact on people of color, and ethnic groups that constitute a minority population in the United States.
2. Increase understanding about how incarceration experiences can reverberate into other life domains after release from prison and/or jail.
3. Examine the socio-cultural and historical roots of the criminal justice system and high incarceration rates.
4. Assess and evaluate sources of the differential impact that major criminal justice institutions have on various races and ethnic groups in American society.

Spring 2024 – Youth Gangs: Syllabus

Fall 2022 – Introduction to Financial Crime: Syllabus

Fall 2022 – Drug Trafficking: Syllabus

Fall 2022 – Punishment and Society: Syllabus

Fall 2022 – Topics in Criminal Justice: Syllabus

This course surveys philosophies and strategies regarding structures of justice. The class begins with a review of retributive and distributive justice and how the two are related. This leads to a broader discussion of “what justice means,” both historically and in contemporary thinking. The course will explore an array of ideas about justice in social relations and in response to the law.  Required Course

Course Learning Goals:

1. Identify and explain fundamental elements of traditional Western moral philosophy.
2. Think critically about ethical and moral issues relevant to racism in Western societies.
3. Apply critical ethical thought to aspects of daily life affected by culture, power, and privilege.

Syllabus – Fall 2022

This course examines ways in which legal codes and the criminal justice system define, regulate, police and punish sexuality and sexual activity, reproduction, and sexual violence, both historically and in the present. It examines the criminalization and punishment of sexuality and sexual activity and related topics (e.g., nudity, erotica). It examines sex offending and victimization, and the criminal justice response to these.

Course Learning Goals:

1. Think critically about the historical and sociocultural construction of sexuality, reproduction, and sexual violence
2. Distinguish between research, news, opinion, and stereotypes about sexuality, reproduction, and sexual violence
3. Develop analytic connections between theories and empirical examples  
4. Analyze, interpret, and critique the major theoretical perspectives of sexuality, reproduction, and sexual violence
5. Analyze policies and practices of the police, courts, and corrections systems as they define, regulate and police sexual activity, reproduction, and sexual violence.

Fall 2022 – Conservation Criminology and Environmental Justice: Syllabus

The senior thesis must be a substantive piece of scholarship involving primary or secondary research, which serves to synthesize knowledge acquired in the Justice Studies major over the course of the student’s undergraduate career. A senior thesis project should be an original work that ideally contributes to the discipline of justice studies. Required Course

Course Learning Goals:

1. Analyze research findings, including data, the construction of arguments, and use of evidence.
2. Develop conclusions and an argument based on researched results.
3. Present findings in a well-written academic paper (including notes, bibliography, and paper format) and professional presentation.