All Results
Criminal JusticeCredits
Examines the rights of inmates, probationers, and parolees.
- Areas of Interest:
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
- Programs:
An examination of the structure, jurisdiction and processes of federal and state courts. Emphasis is placed on selection of judges and justices and on the dynamics of judicial decision-making. Same as POL 475.
This course explores topics in criminal justice beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.
- Areas of Interest:
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
- Programs:
Field Practicum & Capstone Experience is a hybrid experiential learning course where students complete a 400-hour internship experience within an agency that manages justice-involved persons while participating in other professional development & experiential learning opportunities that vary from semester to semester. In addition to their internship experiences, students can expect guest speakers, facility tours, training, and/or other educational experiences to be offered in-person, or via teleconference. Required for the Corrections major. Formal application required. Contact Director of Criminal Justice Field Studies to apply.
- Areas of Interest:
- Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
- Programs:
Field placement with a criminal justice agency or related organization. Provides a learning experience in which the student can integrate and apply knowledge and theory derived from curriculum. Can only be taken P/N, must have permission to register.
Advanced study and research on topics not currently available in existing courses. May be repeated with a change of topic. Requires advisor and instructor approval of topic.
This course complements the learning experience of traveling on a faculty led study abroad trip. The focus will be a comparison of terrorism, political violence, and counter-terrorism activities in the United States to the same activities in the visited countries based on readings, research, observation, and participation. Instructor permission is required to register for this course.
This course complements the learning experience of traveling on a faculty led study abroad trip. The focus will be on a comparison of international justice systems in a variety of countries based on readings, research, observation, and participation. Instructor permission is required to register for this course.
This course is an introductory course for graduate students on terrorism and political violence both internationally and domestically. The course will focus on defining terrorism, understanding the impact of terrorism, and thinking about actions that criminal justice agencies can take to respond to terrorism.
Legal procedures by which state and federal administrative agencies exercise legislative, judicial and executive powers. Emphasis is placed on the constitutional position of administrative agencies, the rule making process, the power of agencies to decide rights and obligations concerning individual cases, and judicial control of administrative action.
Review of selected U.S. Supreme Court decisions relating to the powers of the President, Congress and the Judiciary, as well as the division of power between the states and the federal government. Focus is on case briefing, underlying rationales, and the development of individual analytical abilities.
Review of selected U.S. Supreme Court decisions interpreting areas such as substantive due process, abortion, speech, press, religion, and equal protection. Focus is on the rationale which underlies decisions and the development of individual analytical abilities.
This course explores topics in criminal justice beyond what is covered in the existing curriculum. Students study specialized topics of current importance in the field. Specific topics will change depending on the term and instructor. May be retaken with a change of topic.
This course provides an overview of descriptive and inferential statistical methods as applied in criminal justice research. Students will learn about common sources of criminal justice system data and will learn about a variety of techniques used to understand outcomes and relationships within criminal justice system processes. Students will learn how to apply statistical techniques and use their understanding of these techniques to make meaning and draw conclusions about the extent & nature of offending, disparities in criminal justice system processes and the effectiveness of criminal justice system intervention. Students will use computer software to organize and analyze data.
This course provides students with an overview of quantitative methods in investigating crime patterns and crime prevention. Measurement, conceptualization and operationalization will be reviewed, and students will apply their understanding of theory to analyze valid measures of concepts. Students will apply sources of official criminal statistics and alternative data sources for the purposes of description, evaluation, and explanation, and will articulate their limitations. While quasi-experimental research designs will be emphasized, students will learn about several common research designs. Validity, and the limitations of research designs and methods with respect to inferences about causality and generalizability are central to the course.
A seminar in criminological theory construction and testing, and contemporary research supporting the main theories of crime causation: psychological, social structural, conflict/critical, feminist/queer, and postmodern. Some attention will be paid to the development of crime prevention strategies and rehabilitation interventions.
- Programs:
Students will learn about the theories of organizational behavior and administration as applied to the management of criminal justice organizations. The course will focus on current management trends and issues and how these challenges are addressed by those in organizational leadership positions. This will involve case studies of successes and failures in real world situations. Students will be required to critically examine these cases and analyze why failures occurred and why success was achieved in other situations.
Crime and the fear of crime rank as one of the most important issues in society today. As a result, public policymakers and administrators in the criminal justice system are responding to the issue of crime by fundamentally reviewing all facets of conventional criminal justice infrastructure such as approaches to policing, adjudication, sentencing, imprisonment, and community corrections.
The course will provide students with an understanding of the legal issues that criminal justice practitioners encounter. Students will analyze these issues by identifying relevant facts and legal doctrine, and then develop strategies to resolve them.
Planning provides leaders and managers with a process for making organizational decisions and directing an organization's actions. Budgeting presents information on funding and accountability. Planning and budgeting are integral responsibilities for any criminal justice manager.
- Programs:
Students will examine current issues and problems facing criminal justice organizations related to the development, implementation, and evaluation of public policy. This includes a study of the development of policies regulating police, courts, and corrections. The course will provide an analysis of contemporary issues confronting criminal justice personnel to include, issues surrounding the use of discretion in the field, the use of force, and changes in the delivery of services.
- Programs:
Students will examine leadership skills in criminal justice organizations. Topics that will be explored include organizational communication, conflict resolution, decision-making, problem solving, and their relationship to organizational culture and effective leadership practices. Students will examine the role of leadership in building relationships with employees and the challenge of power dynamics in those relationships. Practical problem solving and decision-making skills will be practiced.
- Programs:
Correctional interventions are theory-based programs that address the criminogenic needs of a juvenile or adult correctional client. This course will cover the main correctional need evaluation through testing or interviews, and effective interventions for the most common criminogenic needs, as well as substance abuse and mental illness. Strategies for adapting interventions to community corrections, adult prisons, and juvenile detention centers are discussed.
This course will focus on United States' complex role with race/ethnicity and social control by addressing the historical context and the contemporary issues relevant to understanding race, crime, and social control. To this aim, we examine the historical context of race and what it means now and what it has meant to us in the past. By answering this initial race question, we will evaluate the historical, social, and political evolution of this term. We will examine the intersection between race, crime, and social control in the United States.
This course traces women's participation in crime and crime victimization from the 19th century to the present, including theories of women's delinquency and crime, disparities in the criminal justice process, and the history of women's prisons and other correctional institutions. Theories of women's crime and victimization will be evaluated through the intersection of gender with other identity categories, such as race/ethnicity, social class, and sexual identity. Although the American criminal justice system will be emphasized, some attention will be paid to the transnational drug trade, human trafficking, and terrorism.