SOC 260--Course Syllabus

Criminal Justice

SOC 260--Four Quarter Hours

Jim Taylor, Ph.D
Elson Hall 103
Ohio University--Zanesville Campus
(740)588-1468
taylorj2@ohio.edu

Please refer to the complete final course syllabus available on the course Website once the course begins.

Course
Description

Examination of structures and decision processes of agencies that deal with crime and criminal offenders. An emphasis is placed on how practice is based on politically derived public policies, and how sociology can be used to analyze the practice of these agencies. Topics include criminal law, policing, court systems, sentencing, and corrections.

Prerequisites

SOC 101

Methods of Course Instruction

All course content is presented on Blackboard. E-mail is used for submission of assignments, and exams, as well as for the instructor's evaluation and comments. Students will also engage one another and interact with the instructor in a series of discussion board exercises.

Course Objectives	This course will focus on one of the most highly debated and emotionally charged social processes in our contemporary world: the American criminal justice system. Criminal Justice is a complex system which has its own extensive history, organizational logic, and cultural mythology. Since September 11, 2001, the central themes, debates, and issues of criminal justice have assumed center stage in the American social reaction to terror. In a post-9/11 world, we are confronted with the fundamental tensions in public discourse that have always shaped the nature of American justice, including the conflict between public safety and individual rights, the expediency, efficiency, and fairness of American law and its enforcement, and appropriate ways in which to respond to criminal acts. For those of you who plan to work one day in the criminal justice system or one of its rapidly expanding related agencies, you will quickly find your own vision of justice to be transformed in the daily life of your new organization. Whether working in law enforcement, court systems, prisons, probation, parole, victim advocacy, dispute settlement, juvenile justice, etc., individuals face similar obstacles and issues that all professionals encounter. These professionals have to know something about how to organize and work with large groups of people, about how to meet goals and objectives with limited resources, about how to manage conflicts and resolve disputes, and about how to develop strong social skills and create a meaningful workplace. As criminal justice actors and agents, employees also face a number of unique circumstances unlike any other profession. They are perennially in the position of making (in some cases, split-second) decisions about people’s lives, careers, families, and futures. They often face non-voluntary, if not, hostile clients, frustrated co-workers, and a stressful workplace. They also must invoke and transform the law on a daily basis by way of their own discretion. Finally, they are part of a system that is considered to be the last resort when all other social institutions have failed. Consequently, justice actors engage in a workplace that American citizens persistently imagine and develop standards of expectations about without much attention to its reality. In this course, we will ask primarily two questions of all of this: 1) Why? and 2) How do these factors affect the quality of American justice? Our goal is to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to help develop answers to these questions. We will do this by reviewing the main components of the American criminal justice system – the police, courts, and corrections – asking how each operates and examining the nature of their interrelationships. In doing so, we will trace the movement of a citizen through the criminal justice process and see what happens as we move from one component to the next. But we want to do more than simply accumulate information about how the system operates. We want to be challenged to think broadly about why the system operates as it does. Toward this end, we will structure many of our discussions around three key themes that are considered to be essential for understanding criminal justice in the United States.

Course Objectives

This course will focus on one of the most highly debated and emotionally charged social processes in our contemporary world: the American criminal justice system. Criminal Justice is a complex system which has its own extensive history, organizational logic, and cultural mythology. Since September 11, 2001, the central themes, debates, and issues of criminal justice have assumed center stage in the American social reaction to terror. In a post-9/11 world, we are confronted with the fundamental tensions in public discourse that have always shaped the nature of American justice, including the conflict between public safety and individual rights, the expediency, efficiency, and fairness of American law and its enforcement, and appropriate ways in which to respond to criminal acts. For those of you who plan to work one day in the criminal justice system or one of its rapidly expanding related agencies, you will quickly find your own vision of justice to be transformed in the daily life of your new organization. Whether working in law enforcement, court systems, prisons, probation, parole, victim advocacy, dispute settlement, juvenile justice, etc., individuals face similar obstacles and issues that all professionals encounter. These professionals have to know something about how to organize and work with large groups of people, about how to meet goals and objectives with limited resources, about how to manage conflicts and resolve disputes, and about how to develop strong social skills and create a meaningful workplace. As criminal justice actors and agents, employees also face a number of unique circumstances unlike any other profession. They are perennially in the position of making (in some cases, split-second) decisions about people’s lives, careers, families, and futures. They often face non-voluntary, if not, hostile clients, frustrated co-workers, and a stressful workplace. They also must invoke and transform the law on a daily basis by way of their own discretion. Finally, they are part of a system that is considered to be the last resort when all other social institutions have failed. Consequently, justice actors engage in a workplace that American citizens persistently imagine and develop standards of expectations about without much attention to its reality. In this course, we will ask primarily two questions of all of this: 1) Why? and 2) How do these factors affect the quality of American justice?

Our goal is to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to help develop answers to these questions. We will do this by reviewing the main components of the American criminal justice system – the police, courts, and corrections – asking how each operates and examining the nature of their interrelationships. In doing so, we will trace the movement of a citizen through the criminal justice process and see what happens as we move from one component to the next. But we want to do more than simply accumulate information about how the system operates. We want to be challenged to think broadly about why the system operates as it does. Toward this end, we will structure many of our discussions around three key themes that are considered to be essential for understanding criminal justice in the United States.

General Course Requirements	The course will be made up of two formal exams (the mid-term and final) composed of multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions, four “reading” quizzes, weekly discussion board postings, and an annotated bibliography project. The final exam will be comprehensive, covering the entire course.

Materials

Required

Text(s)

Siegel, Jarry J. and Joseph Senna. 2008. Introduction to Criminal Justice (11th ed).
Taylor, Jimmy D. 2009. American Gun Culture: Collectors, Shows and the Story of the Gun. LFB Scholarly.
A Series of Articles and Chapters on Blackboard. These texts will have a double asterisk (**) next to them in the syllabus

Note: Books for the course are in stock at the Zane State/OUZ Campus Bookstore or College Book Store in Athens, (740) 594-3505. Click here for online ordering.

Exams
Requirements

4 reading quizzes, a mid-term and a final exam - Proctoring required / No proctoring required

How are exams to be taken: Exams and quizzes will be timed and taken on Blackboard. Books and notes ARE allowed during exams and quizzes, but everyone is expected to do their own work

Dates of Exams (All assignment, exam and quiz postings are EST)

Quiz 1 – Must be posted by midnight on Wednesday, January 13

Quiz 2 - Must be posted by midnight on Monday, January 25

Mid-Term - Must be posted by midnight on Tuesday, February 9

Quiz 3 - Must be posted by midnight on Thursday, February 18

Quiz 4 – Must be posted by midnight on Wednesday, March 3

Annotated Bib. Projects due by midnight on Monday, March 15

Final Exam – Must be posted by noon on Saturday, March 20

Call the Ohio University Online Staff at 1-888-551-6446 if you have questions about this course or the enrollment process.

Call the education counselors the division of Lifelong Learning at (740) 593-2910 if you have questions about Ohio Degree Opportunities.

Criminal Justice

Course Description

Methods of Course Instruction

Course Objectives

General Course Requirements

Materials

Exams Requirements

Course
Description

Exams
Requirements