33 semester hours
Core Requirements (six courses)
CRJ 500 Seminar in System-Wide
Issues in Criminal Justice
This course is designed to provide an overview of significant criminal justice
policies, practices, and decision making that cuts across the agencies of law enforcement, the courts, and corrections. Especially important for the student with little academic background in criminal justice, this course will offer insights into the common problems of regulating discretion, application of legal rules in practice, and implementation of public policy in nonsystem or independent criminal justice agencies.
— three semester hours
CRJ 510 Seminar in Criminal
Justice Management
An assessment of the management and administration of criminal justice agencies
as a special problem of public administration. The differences between public
and private sector management with special emphasis on approaches to organizational
change, leadership and public service will be discussed. Individual and
group behavior in criminal justice organizations will be assessed as will
integrity and commitment to values.
— three semester hours
CRJ 520 Introduction to Statistical
Analysis
This course is designed to provide the student with the necessary skills to analyze
data and to evaluate published research. The course will cover the fundamental
steps of hypothesis testing through more sophisticated multivariate techniques.
Emphasis will be placed on identifying the appropriate statistical technique for
a particular research question, the use of the computer to analyze the data, and
the interpretation of results obtained.
— three semester hours
CRJ 530 Seminar in Professional
Ethics and Liability
How ethical considerations can and should affect every important decision
in criminal justice. Some of these decisions include: police arrest decisions,
prosecutor charging decisions, defendant plea decisions, defense strategy decisions,
judicial evidentiary rulings, sentencing decisions, and probation and parole
decisions. The results of unethical decisions will be examined in terms of
deviance and civil and criminal liability faced by criminal justice professionals.
— three semester hours
CRJ 540 Research, Planning,
and Evaluation Methods in
Criminal Justice
Research and planning techniques as they apply to policy making and evaluation
in criminal justice agencies. Principles of research design, planning methods, and
evaluation techniques will be presented. Emphasis will be placed on selection of
the appropriate research design, planning method, or evaluation tool, given case
studies of problems and issues faced by criminal justice agencies.
— three semester hours
CRJ 550 Seminar in Police
Adminstration and
Behavior
The history, organization and administration of law enforcement as it attempts to
achieve a balance among peace, order and individual rights. The constraints imposed
by law, policy, public interest, politics, and training will each be assessed. Ways to
improve the effectiveness of law enforcement, while maintaining respect for the
rights of suspects and the safety of citizens, will be assessed.
— three semester hours
CRJ 555 Seminar in Theories of
Crime
An examination of theories and typologies of criminal behavior among intimates
and strangers and its effects on victims. Since criminology is a multidisciplinary
field, biological, psychological and social theories of crime will be discussed. The
impact of violent crime will be emphasized. The focus of the course will be
the development of the skills necessary to evaluate and apply criminological
theories in criminal justice settings.
— three semester hours
CRJ 560 Seminar in Law and Legal
Policy: Capital Punishment
The passage of a law or program designed to address a particular problem is often
assumed to resolve that issue. In actuality, however, the law itself may generate more
problems than it solves. This course examines some of the problems in the
application of laws that have come to light through the use of social science
research, or that can be minimized through an empirical investigation of the problem.
— three semester hours
CRJ 565 Seminar in Organized and
White-Collar Crime
The nature, extent and impact of illicit behavior on the part of corporations,
illicit organizations, government agencies, and employees. The causes, enforcement,
prosecution, sentencing, and prevention of organized criminal behavior will be
examined. Political, white-collar, organized, and corporate crime are assessed, and
their similarities and differences evaluated in terms of investigation, prosecution,
defense, and sentencing strategies.
— three semester hours
CRJ 572 Seminar in Penal Policy
This course will address various issues which are relevant to the handling of the
offender in the community and the institution. It is assumed that entry into the
correctional system, both in terms of community-based and institutional alternatives,
engenders certain problems for the system and signifies that offenders
have various problems and needs that must be addressed if we are to deal with
their potential for reform and recidivism.
— three semester hours
CRJ 575 Seminar in Comparative
Crime and Justice
This course will consider the operation of the criminal justice system in various
parts of the world. The principal concern is to develop an understanding of common
problems shared by all countries in dealing with crime and to provide an understanding
of how effective these countries are in administering justice. These
countries will be compared in terms of the crime rate, types of crimes, police
practices, legal traditions, court practices, sentencing schemes and penal policies.
The goal is to alert the student to what is taking place in other parts of the world
and to encourage consideration of practices in other countries as offering possible
solutions to current dilemmas at home.
— three semester hours
CRJ 582 Race, Gender and Class in
the Criminal Justice System
This course considers the interrelationships among race, gender and class in
the criminal justice system. Examined are the patterns and variations in crime
across these variables. The assumptions, biases and relative strengths and weaknesses of theories of crime as applied across race and gender will be addressed.
Attention will be given to women and minorities as offenders, victims and professionals
in criminal justice with particular emphasis given to criminal justice sanctioning of crimes by and against women and minorities.
— three semester hours
CRJ 585 Seminar in Special Problems
in Criminal Justice
This seminar is designed to examine a current issue in criminology and criminal
justice of particular concern. Topics such as the future of crime and justice, mala
prohibita offenses and their adjudication, or the criminal or juvenile justice
system and contemporary social problems may be offered depending on the
critical issues of the period. This course may be taken more than once as long as
the subject matter differs.
— three semester hours
CRJ 600 Supervised Readings in
Criminal Justice
This course is designed for the student who wishes to pursue specific readings
on a subject not otherwise available in the curriculum. With approval of the
instructor, the student will select a topic, organize a reading list, complete it, and
compose a paper based on these readings in consultation with the instructor.
— three semester hours
CRJ 650 Criminal Justice Policy
Paper — Capstone
For students who select this option, the policy paper is a capstone course that
provides the forum to apply critically the substance and method of the completed
curriculum to a criminal justice problem of interest and public concern.
The product of this course will be a policy paper that attempts to address the
policy issue in contemporary society.
— three semester hours
CRJ 659/660 Master’s Thesis
For students who select this option, the master’s thesis is a capstone course that
offers the student the opportunity to apply critically the substance and method
of the field to a specific criminal justice issue. The thesis is a research project that
either tests an untested hypothesis or replicates research findings that are not
conclusive. The product of this course will be a research thesis of publishable quality
for a criminal justice journal.
— six semester hours
