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CRJU 600
Survey of Criminal Justice

1.     Catalog Entry
CRJU 600
Survey of Criminal Justice
Three credit hours (3)

Prerequisites: Graduate standing.

This course will provide an overview of the study of Criminal Justice by providing critical evaluation and discussion of research in the criminal justice field.  It will emphasize seminal works and review current research, including attention to issues of diversity in criminal justice.  It will introduce questions of the factors influencing public policy as well as ethical considerations relating to the application of criminal justice.

2.     Detailed Description of Course
I. Overview of Criminal Justice
    1. Significant contemporary issues
    2. Models of how criminal justice operates
    3. Can academic research affect public policy?

II. Crime
    1. Review research on crime
    2. UCR/NCVS
    3. Historical trends
    4. Current research on crime trends
    5. Research in other areas of crime

III. Criminal Law
    1. History
    2. Contemporary law
    3. The Supreme Court, the Constitution, and applying the Bill of Rights

IV. Criminological Theory
    1. History
    2. Contemporary Criminological Theory
    3. Relationship with Criminal Justice

V. Themes in the study of contemporary criminal justice
    1. Race, class, and gender
    2. Role of the media
    3. Ethics and the application of criminal justice

VI. Landmark articles in the discipline
    1. Policing
    2. Courts
    3. Corrections
    4. Meta-analysis

3.    Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Instructors of this course may choose among these methods of instruction and develop others as they deem appropriate:
•    Class discussion
•    Book reviews
•    Article critiques
•    Case summary
•    Review of the literature
•    Oral presentation

4.     Goals and Objectives of the Course
Having successfully completed this course, the graduate student will be able to:
•    Develop an overview of the Criminal Justice System.
•    Develop a working knowledge of significant research in the Criminal Justice field.
•    Have a familiarity with major contemporary research in Criminal Justice.
•    Have a fundamental understanding of the relationship between research and Criminal Justice policy.
•    Consider ethical issues that impact the workings of the criminal justice system.
•    Consider issues of diversity that impact the workings of the criminal justice system.
•    Write at a graduate student level in a variety of genres including: book reviews, critiques, abstracts, case summaries, and literature reviews.

5.    Other Course Information
None

6.     Review and Approval
April 1, 2008