Courses

Survey of the fields of criminal law and criminal procedure, civil law and civil procedure, torts, business and contract law, property and constitutional law. Attention is given to preparation for law school and aspects of the legal profession.
Identical with PS 105.

This course will provide an overview and analysis of the U.S. criminal justice system, including the roles of law enforcement, the court system and the corrections system.

Topics in this course will include the history and philosophy of corrections, various types of corrections and their strengths and limitations and current trends in corrections.

Fundamentals of Law Enforcement introduces fundamental concepts in regards to the operations and organization of police departments along with basic knowledge in key areas of policing, such as recruitment, interviewing for a police job, traffic stops, crash investigations, force continuum, and proactive community policing strategies.
Prerequisite: Criminal justice major or minor

This course will focus on the elements and techniques of criminal investigations, including crime scene examination, collection and preservation of evidence, questioning of suspects and other information and witness gathering procedures.
Prerequisite: CJ 111

This course deals with the methods of collecting forensic evidence, techniques for the proper analysis and documentation of that evidence, and use of forensic evidence in criminal trials.
Prerequisite: CJ 111

This course is designed to familiarize students entering the criminal justice field with the ethical considerations associated with the industry. Students will engage in a discussion-driven course that presents past, present, and future ethical concerns within the criminal justice system.
Prerequisite: CJ 111

This course examines theoretical explanations of crime, the distribution of crime within the U.S. population, legal definitions of crime and victimology.
Identical with SO 345.
Prerequisites: SO 111 and criminal justice major or minor or sociology major or minor

This course will examine the history of juvenile justice in the U.S., current trends in juvenile justice, differences between the adult and juvenile justice systems as well as the rationales for those differences and developmental issues that are particularly relevant in understanding juvenile delinquency.
Prerequisite: CJ 111

Introduces behavioral science research as a scientific process. Students become familiar with the basics of empirical research design, descriptive and basic inferential data analysis techniques and interpretation, measurement considerations, empirical journal articles, APA style scholarly writing and ethical issues in research. Students analyze and interpret data and write APA style reports. Students also develop basic skills in analyzing data using statistical analysis software.
Identical with CO 380, PY 380 and SO 380.
Prerequisites: PY 111 or SO 111, and successful completion of MA 151

Practicum in some aspect of criminal justice designed to give student practical, directed experience.
Prerequisite: Consent

A continuation of the 380 course, though additional focus is placed on the execution and dissemination of behavioral science research. Topics include empirical research design and statistical data analysis, analysis and critique of empirical research, implications of research results and writing in APA style. Students plan, conduct, analyze and present a research project during the course, and they further develop skills in analyzing data using statistical analysis software.
Identical with CO 480, PY 480, and SO 480.
Prerequisite: CJ 380

The study of a problem, a research paper or a project related to the criminal justice major.
Prerequisite: Consent

Full-time involvement in a field situation of criminal justice maintaining close cooperation with the supervisory personnel in the selected field. An in-depth paper will be submitted.
Prerequisite: Consent