Criminology and Criminal Justice (CRIM)
Description: Provides an overview of the major dimensions of crime in the U.S. Content areas included are the epidemiology of crime, the costs of crime and typologies of crime and criminals.
Description: Designed to explore the role of the police in American society. Attention is given to the origins of policing, the nature of police organizations and police work, and patterns of relations between the police and the public. The values of a democratic society as they affect the law enforcement role are discussed.
Description: Designed to give an analytical perspective to the history, development, implementation and future of critical issues in the field of corrections. Primary focus will be directed toward an exploration of the various theoretical approaches to corrections and the research intended to support or refute these perspectives.
Prerequisites: Instructor permission
Description: Provides an overview of key research areas on prevalence, predictors, and consequences of various forms of victimization. Develop a critical understanding and appreciation of the development and current state of theories of victimology, measurement of different types of victimization, and quantitative and qualitative results that have been used to inform research in the field. Learn how to critically analyze and interpret primary research regarding victimization.
Prerequisites: Instructor Permission
Description: Explores the intersection of race and the criminal justice system. Considers how racism and racial discrimination remain central issues, evidenced by historical events like the Kerner Commission's assessment of 1960s riots and recent incidents such as the 2020 protests. Delves into the complex relationship between law enforcement and marginalized communities of color, where disproportionate offending and victimization strain resources. Covers the impact of policing approaches and mass incarceration on BIPOC communities, further exacerbated by segregation policies. Addresses historical inequalities tied to the death penalty's application to communities of color and explores the cumulative effect of a biased criminal justice system. Through this exploration of macro-structural conditions, community violence, role model depletion due to incarceration, and interactions with law enforcement, grasp the influences on young individuals in lower socioeconomic communities of color, including engagement in the juvenile justice system.
Prerequisites: Admission to graduate program in Criminology and Criminal Justice, successful completion of 15 hours of graduate work, and permission of instructor
CRIM 818 is not open to nondegree students.
Description: Designed to provide supervised individualized learning experiences in a selected criminal justice agency. The principal objective of the internship is to provide students with the opportunity to apply theoretical and methodological principles acquired in graduate courses to the analysis of problems in local criminal justice agencies.
Description: Designed to provide a systematic introduction to the study of human trafficking with a focus on the prevalence, predictors, and consequences of human trafficking. Includes a critical understanding and appreciation of the development and current state of theories, measurement, and quantitative and qualitative results that can be used to inform our understanding of the nature of these events, the victims who are harmed, the individuals who facilitate these crimes, and identification and response initiatives.
Description: Examines the complicated nature and dynamics of sexual violence (SV), beginning with a general presentation of sexual violence, such as definitions and the nature, characteristics, and extent of SV. Considers the impact of doing "sexual violence" work on criminal justice and victim service practitioners (e.g., vicarious trauma) and the importance of self-care. Next, various tools to measure SV, sources of SV data, and measurement issues will be discussed. The major focus includes the historical development and evolution of different legislative, criminal justice systems, and victim service system responses to sexual violence. Examine responses to sexual violence that have been generated outside of formal systems of care and discuss the need for primary prevention.
Description: Designed to provide advanced knowledge and understanding in the area of risk/needs assessment tools used in the juvenile and adult justice system.