This course introduces the study of societal responses to crime as well as an explanation of why criminal justice should be thought of as a system are covered in this course. 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.

CJ 103 Intro to Criminal Justice Fall 2020 (Berryessa)

CJ 103 Introduction to Criminal Justice Fall 20 (Muskovitz)

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.

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.

This course examines the practices and procedures of the United States of America through the application and critical analysis of the nation’s Constitution.  Particular attention is paid to how the Bill of Rights is interpreted by courtroom actors, and how this interpretation results in the setting of precedence.  Discussion of how constitutional precedence reverberates in the criminal justice policymaking world, as well as specific analyses of important judicial opinions, trials, and congressional investigations are covered in this course.

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.

202:222: Constitutional Issues in Criminal Justice Fall 20 (Lageson)

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

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.

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.

CJ301: Criminal Justice Research Methods Fall 20 (Wakefield)

202:301:60:01Criminal Justice Research Methods Fall 20 (Joel Miller)

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 different 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.

47:202:312: Comparative Criminal Justice Systems FAll 20 (Baćak)

This course examines the 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 that is used by cybercriminals 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 offending, victimization, and various 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 impacts criminal justice policy.  Explanations and explorations behind disproportionate minority contact and representation in the United States’ criminal justice system are discussed in this course.

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.

This course focuses on crimes organized by persons whose economic, political, and privileged positions facilitate the commission; relative impunity of unusual crimes that are often national and international in scope and that have serious, long‐term consequences. 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.

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 are major topics discussed in this course. In addition, the class provides for 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.

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 co‐offenders 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.

47:202:411 JUVENILE GANGS & CO-OFFENDING FALL 20 (Griffith)

This course provides a practical introduction to 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. Students will learn skills to make and analyze maps and will 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 that are 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.

47:202:425 MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE Fall 20 (Griffith)

47-202-499 Internship in CJ Dr Beth Griffiths FA18

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 – B.A.

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 – B.A.

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.