2024-Sum-CRM_J-101-ONLIN-6W1-G01-01801-Admin of Criminal Justice

The final syllabus will be available in the Learning Management System.

This is a past syllabus providing a general idea of what the course entails. This does not represent the current course's syllabus, requirements or expectations.

Course Overview

Introduction to Criminal Justice focuses on the various processing stages, practices, and personnel of the criminal justice system. This course examines the problem of crime in American society and the administrative responses to this issue. Both historical and contemporary components of the system, including the police, the courts, and the corrections field, are explored. This course is designed to provide the student with a broad-based understanding of both the effects of crime on our community structures and the challenges the criminal justice system faces in responding to a crime in our contemporary society.

Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

Upon completion of this course, students will:

1. Be familiar with the laws, procedures, and policies involved in processing an offender through the criminal justice system.
2. Understand the roles and responsibilities of various officials involved in processing offenders.
3. Understand the police role, the judicial system function, and the correctional techniques used in dealing with offenders.
4. Be familiar with the history of the public’s attitudes toward the offender

Course Work

This course covers 13 chapters of text material divided into 5 units. You will not be reading Chapter 12 of the text. Rather, you will be engaging with supplementary material provided to you.

Writing Assignments:

There will be three writing assignments assigned throughout the semester. These assignments will require you to answer specific questions and for the most part, will not require outside research or resources (you can use outside resources if you would like). All assignments will be due Sundays by 11:59pm through Canvas (unless noted in an announcement). Assignments will be opened on the Monday of the week they are due. Late assignments will not be accepted. You can be marked down for not adhering to the below requirements.

Requirements:

• 500-600 word count (word count does not include headings - only the body of the paper)
• 12 pt Time New Roman
• Double-space (no extra spaces after title/heading or paragraphs)
• Margins should be 1" on all sides
• Adhere to APA format
• Writing should not include long quotes, several quotes, plagiarism, and/or text generated through Artificial Intelligence programs (e.g., Chat Gpt, Open AI, My AI).
• Note: These requirements may change slightly from assignment to assignment. That said, no individual writing assignment will require a student to write more than 500-600 words

Discussions:

For each substantive week of the course, there will be a series of online discussions regarding the course material. The object of these discussions is not to test you on your reading of each section’s material. Rather, these discussions are intended to allow you to discuss your thoughts and opinions relating to the material and learn from each other.  

In order to receive full credit for each section’s discussion, you will need create an original post of your own, and respond to at least two (2) of your classmates (therefore, you should have written at least three times -- 1 original post and 2 responses). Your original post should be at least 100 words. Follow up comments do not have a word minimum, but should add to the conversation. At least one of your two responses must be a constructive response in which you disagree or have a counter-point to provide. Of course, you are more than welcome to make more than two comments each week if you find that you have more than you want to say. Your initial comment must be posted by the Wednesday (11:59pm) of that week so that your classmates have a chance to respond. Your response comments must be posted by Sunday (11:59pm) of that week. Late discussion posts will not be graded. Although you do have specific requirements that you must meet for each discussion, I will be looking more for the quality of your comments than for the sheer quantity of them.

Posts should be original and should not include long quotes, several quotes, plagiarism, and/or text generated through Artificial Intelligence programs (e.g., Chat Gpt, Open AI, My AI).

Regarding Discussion Activity Posts:

The discussion forum is an important part of this course and a vital component of our online community—therefore I expect discussion posts to reflect thoughtful and critical thinking regarding the notes and readings. I will not be able to respond to each of your discussion posts, but I will try to provide critical analysis as much as possible. Challenge each other, but do so respectfully. It is of utmost importance that each student respects the thoughts of their peers and follow proper netiquette (see the this PDF for a good reference on netiquette).

Exams:

There will be two exams and one final, comprehensive exam that you will take online through Canvas. The first exam covers material from chapters one through six. The second exam covers material from chapters seven through eleven. The final exam covers material from chapters one through thirteen, excluding chapter 12 -- but including the supplementary material in place of chapter 12. You will have 60 minutes to complete the first two exams, 90 minutes for the final.

Grading

Final grades will be rounded up to the nearest whole number when .5 or greater. For example, a grade of 89.5 (a B+) would be rounded to a 90 (an A-). Students who inquire about rounding/bumping final grades will not receive responses.