This seminar acquaints students with key resources for understanding and conducting criminal justice research. The course involves extensive reading, writing, and discussion. It covers the principles of the criminal justice system including the relationship between system components, their effectiveness, and theories of operation and reform. Consideration is also given to specific problems within the branches of the criminal justice system.

This course provides an introduction to criminal justice. One of the primary goals of this course is to provide a general understanding of how the criminal justice system responds to crime in society. The main component parts of the criminal justice system (i.e., police, courts, and corrections) will be examined with a particular emphasis on developing an understanding of the behavior and interactions among the main actors in the criminal justice system. To accomplish this goal, we will examine how criminal cases are processed in the criminal justice system. We will also consider how external forces, such as political decisions, public opinion, and the media influence criminal justice decision-making. Students will also formulate, argue, and evaluate ethical perspectives regarding criminal justice systems, individual-level decisions, and recognize relationships with other ethical problems in society. Finally, throughout the course we will emphasize how the societal response to crime has evolved over time.

This course investigates the complex socio-historical forces that influence race/ ethnicity, crime and punishment in the U.S. from a criminological/sociological perspective. As such, this course interrogates the experiences of various racial and ethnic groups (e.g. Blacks, Latinos, European Immigrants and Asians) within the U.S. criminal legal system, focusing on the role of the system as a means of social control of these groups. After a brief overview of racial inequality in the U.S., we examine the criminalization of racial and ethnic groups, the distribution of crime and victimization among various racial and ethnic groups, theoretical perspectives on the race/ethnicity and crime relationship, and then turn our attention to the role of race and racism in the component parts of the criminal legal system, namely policing, courts and the various punishment regimes.

Focuses on contemporary issues and topics not otherwise distinctly incorporated in established criminal justice courses. Concentrates on student discussion and interaction surrounding required readings on topics such as crime prevention and issues in the prosecution/court system. Recent examples include cyberlaw, prisoner re-entry restorative justice, wrongful convictions, crime mapping, crime analysis, non-traditional courts, legal controversies in the law, substance abuse, and legal research.

This course provides an overview of the role of communities in crime and criminal justice. The course begins by providing a foundation in community theory. Students will gain an understanding of the critical dimensions and attributes that define community. The course will emphasize how these critical community functions and dimensions are related to both crime and justice system responses to crime. The course will involve an examination of community-based theory and research, with a special emphasis on the criminology of place and how crime and justice system response patterns are embedded in particular social structures. Students will study the extent to which structural characteristics and social processes are related to crime. Finally, the course will examine how communities and the justice system can collaborate to promote public safety and produce more equitable justice system responses.