Criminal Justice (CJ)

Credits: 1. Contact Hours: Lecture 1.

Orientation to academic program requirements, career awareness, strategies for successful transition to college. Topics include: University and LAS College requirements and procedures; occupational tracks and career options open to criminal justice; and introduction to career planning. Offered on a satisfactory-fail basis only. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 1. Contact Hours: Lecture 1.

Foundations for student success in the criminal justice major. Students will examine current issues in crime and criminal justice and build career awareness and planning skills through guest speakers and field trips. Offered on a satisfactory-fail basis only. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with ENT 2200).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Study of fundamental forensic science techniques and procedures covering types of physical, chemical, and biological evidence and how this information is used in the legal system. Assessment of crime scenes and various forensic specialties will be introduced. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Provides systematic overview of law, police organization and behavior, prosecution and defense, sentencing, the judiciary, community corrections, penology, and capital punishment. The course demonstrates the role of discretion in all of these agencies as well as the sociological influences of age, race, gender, and social class on criminal justice system processes. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with SOC 2410).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An examination of delinquency that focuses on the relationship between youth as victims and as offenders, social and etiological features of delinquency, the role of the criminal justice system, delinquents' rights, and traditional and alternative ways of dealing with juvenile crime. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
The nature of crime and criminology; the concept of crime; statistics and theories of criminality; major forms of crime; official responses to crime and control of crime. (Typically Offered: Fall)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Examination of the characteristics of victims of crime, victim-offender relationships, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system, as well as the physical, emotional, and financial harm individuals suffer at the hands of offenders. In exploring these dynamics and connections, this course will address the theory, history, research, legislation, and policy implications related to victimization.

(Cross-listed with POLS 3200).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

An overview of the American judicial process. Emphasis on specific topics such as application of constitutional rights to the states (particularly the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments), mechanics of judicial opinions, constitutional philosophies of Supreme Court Justices, decisions of first impression, and the value and scope of precedent. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with RELIG 3250/ POLS 3250).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

A study of the role of religion in law and justice with a focus on the United States. Examines the history of religious freedom, key contemporary legal cases, and how religious-oriented justice movements engage ethics and the law. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with PHIL 3320).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: 3 credits in PHIL or Permission of Instructor
Extent of our obligation to obey the law; what constitutes just punishment; how much of the immoral should be made illegal? Relation of these questions to major theories of law and the state. Discussion of such concepts as coercion, equality, and responsibility. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

(Cross-listed with USLS 3330X).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Intersections of ethnicity, culture, assimilation, immigration/migration, crime, and the criminal justice system in the United States. Topics include: criminality among Latinos/as and the challenges they face within the CJ complex (cops, courts, corrections, as well as immigration and border control) situated within mass incarceration; the use of criminalization as a form of social control; and Latino/as' human and civil rights and the role that race, ethnicity, gender, class, and immigration status play in the criminal justice system and border control enforcement. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with AFAM 3350).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 2, Discussion 1.

Prereq: AFAM 2010 or CJ 2400
Empirical and theoretical readings on the intersection of race, ethnicity, crime, and the criminal justice system in contemporary society. Topics include, but are not limited to racial and ethnic relations in society, media, violence, policing, and disparity and discrimination in crime and punishment. Criminological theories of racial and ethnic antagonism. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement.

(Cross-listed with POLS 3390/ PHIL 3390).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Competing conceptions of liberty in American political thought. Debates about how liberty should be protected by the law, in fields such as health care, drugs, property, speech, religion, and sex. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

(Cross-listed with SOC 3400).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Theory and research on the etiology of types of social deviance; issues relating to crime, antisocial behavior and social policies designed to control deviant behavior. (Typically Offered: Spring, Summer)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction and overview of law enforcement in the United States. Theory and research on police history, function, and organization; constitutional issues of policing; and critical topics, such as community policing, officer discretion and decision-making, corruption, use of force, and racial profiling. The course illustrates the interconnections between communities, police organizations, citizens, and criminal offenders. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction and overview of corrections in the United States. Theory and research on probation, parole, intermediate sanctions, prison, inmate society, inmate behavior and misconduct, capital punishment, recidivism, correctional treatment, rehabilitation, and offender reintegration into society. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
Introduction to various efforts to prevent crime and juvenile delinquency, as well as the reduction of specific risk factors for both. Theories that provide the baseline for various approaches to prevention, as well as the development, operation and effectiveness of prevention efforts centered in various social institutions such as the family, schools, neighborhoods/communities, religion and the media. Examine programs originating from within the traditional criminal justice institutions of the police, courts, and correctional systems. (Typically Offered: Spring)

(Cross-listed with USLS 3600).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Intersections of race/ethnicity, class, gender, culture, acculturation, and immigration/migration in the victimization experiences of Latina women interacting with criminal justice systems and services. Topics include: domestic/intimate partner violence, sexual assault, human trafficking among Hispanic, Latina, and Chicana women, and the impact of language barriers, abuser threats of deportation, social and institutional discrimination and racism, cultural norms, and cultural insensitivity among first responders and service providers on help-seeking, well-being, and interactions with the criminal justice system. Meets U.S. Diversity Requirement.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction and overview of white-collar crime as a form of deviance. Theory and research on occupational, corporate, and organizational offending; prevalence, costs, and consequences of white-collar crime; predictors and correlates of white-collar crime; and political, business, and public policy responses to white-collar crime. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction and overview of criminal offenders. Theory and research on epidemiology, offender typologies, etiology of violence, recidivism, societal costs, correctional supervision, treatment, and prevention of serious antisocial behavior. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

(Dual-listed with CJ 5040).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
Development, implementation and evaluation of criminal justice policies affecting major areas of the criminal justice system. History, development and operation of the criminal justice system, including policing, courts/sentencing, corrections, crime prevention, and offender rehabilitation. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
Analysis of the drug problem, including issues arising from the use and abuse of legal and illegal drugs and their relation to crime and the criminal justice system. Examination of issues related to effective prevention and treatment, crime, and the debates over the most effective policies for the control or prevention of drug abuse. Offered irregularly. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
Overview of the relationship between gender and crime. Examination of gender and gender roles definitions; how gender impacts criminal behavior in terms of offending, victimization, criminal justice processing, and working in the criminal justice system; and theories used to understand the gender gap in offending.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Prereq: CJ 2400
History, philosophy, demographics, administration, and punishment rationales of capital punishment in the United States from its founding to the present. Methods of execution and trends in public opinion about the death penalty. Examination of correlates of capital offending and criminological characteristics of persons who are sentenced to death.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction to contemporary issues in policing in the United States. Topics include: the media/law enforcement relationship, cultural competence for police, use of technology, and career foundations for hiring and advancement. Scenario-based learning in individual and group settings will help students to grasp the challenges next generation leaders will face in policing. (Typically Offered: Fall)

(Cross-listed with SOC 4600).
Credits: 3-9. Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.

Study of the criminal and juvenile justice systems and social control processes. Supervised placement in a police department, prosecutor's office, court, probation and parole department, penitentiary, juvenile correctional institution, community-based rehabilitation program, or related agency. Assessed service-learning component. Graduation Restriction: No more than a total of 9 credits of 4600 can be counted toward graduation. Offered on a satisfactory-fail basis only. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, Summer)

(Dual-listed with CJ 5700).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Ethical issues and considerations in policing, the practice of law, sentencing, corrections, criminal justice research, and crime control policy. Decision-making by criminal justice professionals in an environment of competing interest. Policy and legal issues confronting the American criminal justice system from an ethical perspective. Emphasis on moral and ethical issues in the criminal justice process. (Typically Offered: Spring)

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.
Repeatable, maximum of 9 credits.

Thematic or topical issues and studies dealing with the sociology of police, judiciary, institutional and community-based corrections, gender/ethnicity and crime/delinquency, criminal and delinquent gangs, and crime and delinquency prevention.

(Dual-listed with CJ 5040).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Development, implementation and evaluation of criminal justice policies affecting major areas of the criminal justice system. History, development and operation of the criminal justice system, including policing, courts/sentencing, corrections, crime prevention, and offender rehabilitation. (Typically Offered: Fall, Spring)

(Dual-listed with CJ 4700).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Ethical issues and considerations in policing, the practice of law, sentencing, corrections, criminal justice research, and crime control policy. Decision-making by criminal justice professionals in an environment of competing interest. Policy and legal issues confronting the American criminal justice system from an ethical perspective. Emphasis on moral and ethical issues in the criminal justice process. (Typically Offered: Spring, Summer)

(Cross-listed with SOC 5840).
Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.
Repeatable, maximum of 3 credits.

Discussion of current research and theory in crime and delinquency; topics include the purpose and role of law in social life; emerging theoretical directions in criminology; recent work on specific forms of criminality; controversies in the criminal justice system. Offered odd-numbered years. (Typically Offered: Fall)