Definitions of crime, the major theories of crime, the nature and extent of criminal behavior. Analysis of different types of crime, including juvenile delinquency, corporate crime, crimes against women, and crimes by police. Institutions of social control: police, courts, prisons. Meets Gen Ed - Social Science Perspectives.
Do the three main sectors of the criminal justice system - the police, the courts, and corrections - have an impact on crime, achieve justice, and constitute a system? This course will look at the historical development of each of these sectors, their relation to broader social forces, and their internal problems and dilemmas. Topics may include current controversies (police brutality, the death penalty and other sentencing trends, community policing, plea bargaining, parole) as well as the impact of broader issues like race, gender and social class.
This is an introductory survey course that broadly examines international justice. The course will cover theoretical foundations of international justice; international justice topics such as transnational crime, terrorism, war and peace, genocide, migration, global poverty, and nuclear weapons; and the structure and mechanisms of international justice, including the efforts of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and international institutions such as the International Criminal Court, to respond to global injustices. Meets Gen Ed - Global Cultural Perspectives.
This course prepares first-year students for college-level work and campus life. It acquaints students with university expectations and resources and provides them with the academic skills and strategies to allow them to succeed as college students. It addresses the social and personal issues that students face as well as helping them to appreciate and grow from campus diversity.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 102 or departmental approval. This course will examine current thinking in the criminal justice profession, with a focus on change and reform efforts. Its purpose will be to describe major innovations, to explore their rationale, and to examine impediments to their implementation and evaluation. After a review of the history of change in criminal justice and a review of the psychology of change, the course will take a case study approach. Successful and unsuccessful innovations in crime prevention, police instructions and practices, court practices, corrections and reentry will be examined in depth.
Prerequisite(s): Any 100 level course. An introduction to the systems, processes and theories of justice in the United States (civil, criminal, juvenile and therapeutic), and the interdisciplinary study of the law through social science perspectives. The course will explore the historical development of the American justice systems through an examination of relevant law and scholarly sources. By incorporating applicable law and court processes, the course will provide students with an interdisciplinary understanding of US legal systems and their use in the pursuit of justice.
Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100; and JUST 204; and JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 103 may be taken as prerequisite or corequisite. An examination of questions of justice based upon social behavior, group processes and individual differences. The course will explore controversies surrounding justice and injustice, including the potential for differential treatment based upon race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and physical ability. Meets the Graduation Writing Requirement for majors in Justice Studies.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102. The purpose of this course is to explore the variety of harms committed against the environment and its inhabitants. The course examines explanations for environmental crime, the criminal justice system response, consequences of environmental offenses, crime resulting from natural disasters, and how the criminal justice system can be more responsive to issues of environmental crime.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 103. The aim of this course is to provide students with an in-depth look at theories and institutions of international justice. In this course the concept of "international justice" will be divided into three components: international economic justice, international political justice, and human rights.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. In recent decades the life course paradigm has become one of the most prominent theoretical areas in criminology. This course will provide a detailed exploration of the life course paradigm, including its empirical and theoretical applications. The course will examine the foundations of life course theory including several fundamental studies and more recent scholarship, its theoretical and empirical evolution, as well as its value in understanding criminal behavior and its relationship to other theoretical paradigms.
The course will utilize case studies from justice systems settings to explore the process of doing ethnographic research from diverse theoretical perspectives. It will focus on the personal, political, ethical, moral, legal, and scientific dilemmas that researchers typically face attempting to gather fieldwork and interview data about the backstage regions of the subject's world. Specific areas to be examined include the researcher's role in the field, developing rapport and trust, emotions and fieldwork, age, race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender issues in research, the politics and ethics of research in applied and non-applied settings, and techniques of data collection in interviewing and participant observation.
This course will take a life-course approach in examining the complex issues of family violence. It will utilize a multidisciplinary framework in analyzing the dynamics of abuse. Students will discuss the various forms of violence as well as the prevalence and incidence of violence in different stages of the lifespan. The relationship between child abuse, sibling abuse, partner abuse and elder abuse will be examined. Students will also explore family violence from a cultural perspective. They will review current social policy as it relates to the protection and treatment of the victims of family violence.
Prerequisite(s): SOCI 201 or STAT 109 or JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The use of statistics to summarize data, to show relationships among variables. Evaluating research reports based on statistics. Use of the computer to analyze data. Mutually Exclusive with SOCI 240.
The course will examine current issues in policing from an interdisciplinary perspective. Subjects include racial and ethnic profiling, policing a multi-cultural society, police use of force, police corruption, policing domestic violence, policing emotionally disturbed people, police management of terrorist threat, hostage negotiation, policing disasters (SWAT/Emergency Service - first responders) and relevant dimensions of police psychology.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course covers important issues surrounding the study of gangs in America. In particular are discussions of the definition of "gangs," the nature and extent of the gang problem in the United States, theoretical explanations for gang activity, the role of youth in gangs, the role of adults in gangs, the role of females in gangs, gang interventions, and gang policies. The course is designed to help students gain an understanding of gang activity in the United States, and to think critically about ways to address this problem.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course covers the relationship between police and modem communities including urban, rural, and suburban areas. The course will examine police training, the impact of training, selection, and professional socialization, the role of police in communities, as well as the effects of police discretion. Additional focuses on specific community policing initiatives such as CompStat and Intelligence-Led Policing are provided.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Restriction(s): Not open to freshman. Introduction to the principles of empirical research and their application in the law and justice system. Examination of sampling, experimental methods, survey methods, and qualitative fieldwork and study of strengths and weaknesses of these methods. Attention to methods for program, family, and individual evaluation. A critical approach to understanding and using "facts" about levels of adult and juvenile crime, causes of crime, public perceptions of crime and punishment, victimization, policing, the courts, and corrections.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The purpose of this course is to explore justice-related issues of crime and punishment in both historical and contemporary settings - to examine, for instance, how and why some acts become defined as crimes and others do not, how and why these definitions change over time, and what factors (eg. race, class, and gender) influence and determine these changes.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Organized crime as a social phenomenon. The methods and goals of large-scale crime and its economic, political, and social costs; popular attitudes towards organized crime; efforts of enforcement and investigation agencies to deal with the problem.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The domain of this course is the role of social inequities, especially those of class and race, in the distribution of environmental risks in societies at the local, national, and global levels and includes study of legal remedies and public policy measures that address environmental injustices. Mutually Exclusive with SOCI 314.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Study of the mediation process and its evolution. Analysis of models and applications including: court-annexed, family, municipal court, community, peer, and victim offender mediation. Student participation in role plays, research, and observations of mediation process.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or GSWS 301 or departmental approval. Victimology is the scientific study of victims including the relationship between the victim and offender, the victim and the criminal justice system, and the victim with other societal institutions. The goal of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the subject of victimology in the context of Criminology and Women's and Gender studies. The course will be presented in three parts: Research and theory on victimization, Exploration of special topics in victimology, and Historical and Contemporary practical responses to victimization. Mutually Exclusive with GSWS 316.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course will examine the use of the law both to perpetuate and eradicate racial injustice in the United States from the inception and rise of slavery during the colonial period through the racial desegregation decision on the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 to the present. The goals of the course are to achieve an understanding of the role of law in its social context, especially with regard to the use of legal institutions, and law in the creation and maintenance of systems of racial injustice and to examine the use of law (especially litigation) as a mechanism for social change.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between human and nonhuman animals from a multidisciplinary perspective including the ecological, environmental, cultural, economic, social, psychological, and health dimensions of these relationships. The course will situate nonhuman animals into a larger conception of social justice.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course examines issues relating to how and why people hate; what constitutes a hate crime; whether and how society should legislate against hate crime; and how tolerance can be promoted in an ever-diverse and complex world. Course topics may include a historical perspective on hate; psychological and sociological theories as to why people hate hate; hate crime laws; enforcement issues relating to hate crime laws; constitutional challenges to hate laws; international hate crime; and new frontiers in hate and hate crime.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205. Restriction(s): Criminal Justice, Justice and Families, and Justice Systems students only; or departmental approval. This course will take a comprehensive view of the issues that bring women in contact with the criminal justice system and correctional institutions. Students will discuss the historical legacy of female incarceration in Europe and America. They will discover that the demographic intersections of gender, race, class and gender orientation play a major role in sentencing outcomes. Gender responsive programming as well as role model programs in the US, Canada and Europe will be discussed.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. An examination of the nature, scope, forms, and styles of occupational and business-related criminal activities in the U.S., as well as their social, political, and economic implications.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course will deal with major theories regarding the causes of juvenile delinquency. The relationship between juvenile crime and justice and the socio-economic and institutional arrangements of the larger society will be the primary focus.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will focus on Serial Killers in American society. Serial killers are those who kill at least three persons over time. Serial killers often seem to be rational and sane, planning their murders in advance. If they are less than sane, less than rational, then the implications for justice are altered, and the investigation needs to be broadened beyond the idea of punishment. The thrust of the course will be spread over these themes: crime and punishment, rationality and madness, justice and revenge. With these topics in mind, this course will concern itself with the historical, psychological, legal and cultural implications of serial killers.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The goals of this course are to study terrorists and terrorism from both a criminological and social justice perspective and to contextualize the current debate regarding civil liberty-for-security tradeoffs in an age of terror. The course will familiarize students with the definitional debates surrounding terrorism, the questions regarding how to treat terrorists from a legal and law enforcement perspective, and the reactions that terrorists elicit from governments and publics.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course will examine urban police organizations from diverse theoretical perspectives. Subjects include media images of the police, police discretion, police use of force, police corruption, women in policing, ethnic minorities in policing, and researching the police.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course examines the specific legal issues inherent in capital punishment. Included will be detailed coverage of both substantive and procedural law of capital punishment as well as the roles of lawyers, judges, and juries within this legal system. This course also will focus upon empirical analyses of death penalty applications and will carefully explore its practical and philosophical underpinnings.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205. The goal of this course is to provide a cross-national survey of crime and criminal justice. Emphasis will be on crime rates, forms of criminality, police, courts, and corrections. Descriptive material on how select countries administer criminal justice will be analyzed and compared.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course will focus on Prisons and Punishment in American society. The prison is the symbol of punishment in western society. Apart from the general and historical claims made on punishment, we will be concerned with the policy implications of the existence of prisons. We will discuss the purposes of prison, whether or not they rehabilitate, and explore the issue of alternatives to incarceration. This course will emphasize classical and contemporary sociological and historical texts, case law, inmate memoirs, and fictional accounts of prison life. As we learn to connect crime to social cohesion, cultural diversity, labor issues, and racial, ethnic and gender differences, we will discover and sample various perspectives on punishment.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course examines the criminal justice roles, responsibilities and jurisdictions associated with homeland security. It will focus on the analysis of terrorism, as well as threats and challenges facing criminal justice agencies. Emphasis will be placed on the constitutional, organizational, and competency issues needed to meet criminal justice goals.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will familiarize students with environmental issues from a global perspective. The course will situate global environmental concerns within a larger framework of social justice and elaborate on various social, political, economic, and historical issues related to the environment and natural resources.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will examine theories of police civil liability cases. It will explore relevant case law and provide an understanding of civil liability and its impact on law enforcement policies and procedures.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will provide students with the theoretical foundations and practical applications of the laws applied to technology based crimes. The course will utilize a model and method approach, which will present theory and procedure in a case problem context. It will acquaint students with the procedures utilized in the prosecution of cybercrimes.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course explores the media's impact on crime and the criminal justice system. It assists students in understanding criminal justice policy and practice and how both are portrayed by the media. The course provides a basis upon which students can critically examine the ideas and images presented by different forms of media.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will examine the technological advancements brought about in the field of law enforcement. It will therefore explore devices and software that assists police officers and other law enforcement personnel in crime prevention, detection, crime control, suspect apprehension and prosecution.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 may be taken as prerequisites or corequisites. This course will examine and explore the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from its founding in the early twentieth century as a component of the national government's fledgling foray into law enforcement, to its status today. The course will define and delineate the FBI's origins from a constitutional/federalist perspective, as well as a preventive/reactive criminal justice perspective, critically analyzing the rationale behind its formation and exploring its role and responsibilities, then and now, within a nation/state founded upon notions of rule of law, due process and state's rights. The course will examine why the FBI does what it does and will provide a critical analysis about whether the answers to those questions are (and were) well-founded. What is the FBI's jurisdiction and its responsibilities today and how and why have these evolved and changed over the years? What is the FBI's future in the Age of Terror?.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. This course examines wrongful convictions from a broadly interdisciplinary perspective. This course will consider the scope and causes, the process of exonerations, and the legal, political and social responses and implications of wrongful convictions on the US Justice System as a whole.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or JUST 210 or departmental approval. This course covers the concepts and enforcement of international criminal law, with a focus on international crimes that fall under the jurisdiction of international criminal courts and tribunals, it will explore the procedural aspects of international cooperation in criminal matters, with particular attention to extradition and problems associated with obtaining evidence from abroad.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or JUST 209. The purpose of this course is to explore the variety of harms committed against wildlife populations globally. The course examines the threats to wildlife populations, impacted by the decisions of humans, development, and industries. The course overviews the theories and practices of wildlife protection, and details law enforcement's use of forensics to apprehend and prosecute wildlife traffickers.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will provide an overview of some major issues involved in the policing of terrorism. It will review the changing notions of terrorism since 9/11 & some theoretical perspectives commonly applied to the study of different aspects of policing terrorism. It will go on to explore how different urban US police departments perceived & handled terrorist threat prior to 9/11 & the reorg of policing that took place after 9/11 including the expansion of counterterrorism and intelligence units & inclusion of former CIA executives in command positions, reduction in the ranks of uniformed patrol, expansion of SWAT/Emergency Service units & intro of new military & government sponsored antiterrorist training, & the internationalization of social control & surveillance of "terrorist" activities under "Interpol." This course will also analyze the increase in tension between the goals of democratic policing & those of more authoritarian policing styles common in countries in which there is little separation between the military & the state. The course will also provide a brief comparative overview of policing dissidence & terrorism in other countries including the U.K., Brazil , & Argentina, during the dirty war, & the rationalizations that are commonly used to excuse & justify torture & other extreme measures to manage perceived terrorist threat.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. An examination of the roots of the American jury system and the role of trials in the social construction of morality. Consideration of issues related to jury pools, selection, and representativeness. Examination of data from research on group processes within actual and mock juries, including communication and decision making in juries and juror bias. Students will conduct field studies in local courts.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. The primary aim of this course is the examination of the nexus between globalization and crime. The focus of the course is on the changing nature of transnational and international crimes, their relationship to political, social, cultural and economic developments, and the challenges these present for the governance of crime.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Traces the historical development of corrections in the United States and examines present trends. Explores the sociopolitical nature of various correctional policies, with special emphasis on current trends and controversies. Analyzes prison life from the perspectives of administrators, corrections officers, and inmates.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. International Prisoners' Rights concerns the laws regulating the rights of incarcerated persons. The course analyzes the breadth and limitations of the substantive rights of prisoners in a variety of countries. This course is particularly suited to students interested in the political, social, and economic contexts in which difficult issues of criminal justice and fairness present themselves.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The goal of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of global human trafficking, including extent, causes, impact, perpetrators, victims and responses. In addition to an overview of the global issues we will examine the multifaceted needs of trafficking survivors, and legal and policy approaches to reducing the problem. Mutually Exclusive with GSWS 355.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or by departmental approval. This interdisciplinary course explores the emergence, development, underlying causes and responses to genocide. This course examines the legal entities established to address cases of genocide, and the formal and informal mechanisms of justice and redress for genocide victims and their families. This course will explore these themes through the study of particular cases such as the Holocaust, Rwanda, Armenia, Cambodia, the former Yugoslavia and Darfur.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 205 or JUST 204 or JUST 210. Restriction(s): Majors only. This course is an overview of human rights in an international context. It will map the evolution of human rights ideology, examine different actors that promote these norms and discuss the protection and enforcement of human rights to promote international justice.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course will examine the theoretical foundations and practical applications of the law used to the investigation of crimes. It will acquaint students with the procedures utilized in the identification, recovery and analysis of evidence of the commission of crimes. It will also explore relevant case law.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 205 or JUST 209. The course will familiarize students with the role of women in the environmental movement, currently and historically from a social justice perspective. The course will focus on the unique roles women have played in environmental protection.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. An integrated approach to the study of individual rights, liberties, and American justice. The development of constitutional law in its social, political, and cultural contexts. The growth of the legal tradition and recent developments in relation to statutory law in shaping the principles of American liberty.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course explores and examines the criminal justice system from the ethics perspective. Authority, power, force, and discretion are all part of the daily operations of each subsystem of the criminal justice system. As a result, the abuse of power is always possible, leading to ethical issues. Informal practices and value systems among criminal justice professionals may vary. These can range from codes of ethics and daily decisions and choices which affect individuals’ lives, to a variety of other ethical issues and dilemmas which will be examined in detail during this course.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205. This course is designed as an introduction to the particular difficulties involved in pursuing human trafficking through legal mechanisms, both domestic and international. The course is designed to provide instruction on the civil and criminal mechanisms that are used to pursue and discourage human traffickers. It should also increase students’ critical understanding of the concept of human trafficking and the use of criminal justice responses, by exploring the difficulties that have arisen involving, for instance, defining trafficking, the question of consent, the use of criminal mechanisms to coerce potential victims into cooperating with law enforcement, and the bureaucratic and cultural hurdles to legal cooperation. The course will also discuss alternative legal strategies that make the international sphere less conducive to trafficking, such as the use of business regulation, and legal protections and aid for potential victims. Finally, the course will address the detrimental effects of racism and moral panics on both criminal and civil legal strategies.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Guided study of a particular area of Justice Studies arranged individually between student and professor. The topic may be a more advanced treatment of a regularly offered course or the exploration of a timely and significant area of Justice Studies. This course does not replace a regular course taken on an independent study basis.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204 or JUST 205 or JUST 210 or department approval. Exploration of a significant area of International Justice such as transitional justice, comparative justice, human rights, as well as new and evolving areas in international justice. The specific topic will be announced each time the course is offered. May be repeated once for a maximum of 6 credits.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Exploration of a timely and significant area of Justice Studies. The specific topic will be announced each time that the course is offered.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between drugs and disparate treatment by race, class and gender from a multidisciplinary perspective. The course will situate drugs into a larger conception of social justice and will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between drugs and the larger structural elements of society.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. Students will examine historical and current social welfare policies within a social justice context and as they affect families through the lifecourse. They will analyze the conflicts and controversies that surround current policies and the role of the media in setting the social welfare agenda. Students will come to and understanding of the political forces and special interests that frame the rationale for social welfare policy and will decide what reforms, if any, are indicated.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 310 or departmental approval. The course will familiarize students with an understanding of sexual offending and offenders from a multidisciplinary perspective. The course will situate this type of crime and offender within a larger conception of social justice and will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between sex crimes and the larger structural elements of society.
Prerequisite(s): GSWS 301 or JUST 310 or by departmental approval. The goal of this course is to provide an upper-level, trans-disciplinary overview of ways that gender shapes individuals' experiences with the criminal justice system as workers, offenders and victims. Emphasis will be placed on the examination of structural disadvantage, the gendered nature of criminological theoretical perspectives, and the victim/offender dichotomy. Mutually Exclusive with GSWS 403.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 353 or departmental approval. This course will focus on the administration of the corrections system. This will include an examination of the agencies involved, and the historical and philosophical background of corrections, as well as theories of correctional management. We will discuss several issues that impact the corrections system, both on an individual institutional basis and on a system level. This will include both recruitment and retention of staff, treatment and education programs, the role of politics, technology, security, and accountability/ethics.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 313 or JUST 324 or JUST 327 or JUST 329 or JUST 330 or JUST 332 or JUST 341 or JUST 342 or JUST 349 or JUST 352 or JUST 354 or JUST 355 or JUST 356 or PALG 305 or GSWS 355, or departmental approval. This course covers the causes, solutions to, and persistent problems involving international civil conflicts. The course will look at civil wars from many angles including those of human rights and conflict resolution. It will also explore riots, pogroms, ethnic conflicts, and violence against women.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 103 and JUST 210 and either JUST 300 or JUST 310 or by departmental permission. This course introduces students to the critical study of transitional justice and post-conflict accountability. It lays out the historical and conceptual foundations of transitional justice, provides an overview of global practices of transitional justice, and focuses on the different social actors involved in transitional justice processes.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 103 and JUST 210; and JUST 300 or JUST 310. This course introduces students to the issue of international migration in today’s world while searching for policy solutions to migration and refugee issues, and discussing what just treatment of migrants and refugees looks like. The course explores multiple dimensions of migration including legal issues surrounding migration, theories of how fair migration might look in a just global normative order, economic effects of migration as well as migration’s political and social ramifications.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 300 and JUST 240. Restriction(s): 3.2 or higher GPA overall and 3.5 or higher GPA in the major. This course aims to provide original research experience to advanced undergraduate students. The goal of this course is to have students conduct primary research, from the initial stages of literature exploration through to data collection and analysis. Successful completion of original research will encourage continuation to graduate school.
Restriction(s): Junior or senior status and departmental permission; Justice Studies majors only. Advanced students serve as peer mentors in Justice Studies working with faculty and students to promote academic excellence and positive student culture. They will also solidify knowledge and gain organizational and leadership experience. This course may be repeated once for credit.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 204, JUST 205, JUST 300, and JUST 310 with a minimum grade of C- in each. Restriction(s): 18 credits in the student's concentration; Justice Studies majors only; senior status; and departmental permission. Field placement experience. The required classroom seminar complements the applied component and includes discussions of organizational models, conflict resolution, confidentiality, career options and resume writing. Discussion themes incorporate a multidisciplinary perspective. May be repeated once for students who choose a second concentration.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 355, GSWS 355 or departmental approval. Restriction(s): Certificate Global Human Trafficking. Through a supervised internship experience, students will apply newly gained theoretical knowledge from the field of human trafficking and thereby complete the learning cycle. Students will also meet with supervising faculty to discuss substantive issues as well as skill enhancement and ethical issues that arise during their internship experience. Out of these discussions, students will determine the project area they wish to pursue as their internship-related final assignment. Furthermore, students will be given the opportunity to explore both their short-term and long-term career goals through the internship experience, discussions with supervising faculty, and research.
This course examines historical and and contemporary theories of justice, including themes on affirmative action, income distribution, same‑sex marriage, the role of markets, debates about rights (human rights and property rights), arguments for and against equality, and dilemmas of loyalty in public and private life. Students will learn about classical concepts of justice, such as Aristotle, John Lock, and John Rawls, among others, applying these paradigms and ideas to problems in present‑day society.
This graduate course is designed to introduce students to major contemporary issues in justice, law, policy and social change. Great emphasis will be placed on the policy implications behind some of today’s most pressing issues in the administration of justice. Strong theoretical applications to policy and law will be taught to further facilitate understanding of theory and practice. In addition, students will engage in empirical analyses that will help them to form advanced conclusions on policy‑making processes as they relate to the administration of justice, as well as their effect on society and potential change.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 240 and JUST 300 or equivalent; Placement test required. This course is designed to train graduate students in qualitative research methodology, from conceptualization, through design and data collection processes for use in their graduate studies and as an applied research methodology for problem investigation, problem solving and evaluation in Justice Studies and other related fields. It includes a thorough discussion of qualitative research design and the role of theory in guiding and informing research design. Students will be taught four data collection methods commonly used in qualitative research: observation, interview, focus group and use of documents and archival data.
Prerequisite(s): Basic statistics for the social sciences, equivalent of JUST 240. This course covers intermediate and advanced statistics relevant to the study, analysis, and evaluation of theoretical and applied justice topics including causation, policy, strategy, and organizational performance. Students will use the computer in conjunction with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excel data analysis software. Previous coursework in basic descriptive and inferential statistics through binary linear regression required.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course is an overview of homeland security issues. It will address issues of transportation and infrastructure protection, intelligence and the interface of academia, private and public sectors and science in confronting terrorism.
Corequisite(s): JUST 510. Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course examines the structures, roles, and interactions of the foreign and domestic intelligence communities, the intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities of criminal justice and private sectors entities, and covert and counterintelligence operations.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500 and JUST 510; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course will address the national response to the emerging threat of bioterrorism. It will examine legislative responses, emergency disaster planning, event assessment and government agencies involved in homeland security and communication.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course provides an in-depth exposure to the rules of evidence and their application in civil and criminal litigation situations.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500 and JUST 510; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. Contemporary topical issues and their immediate and long-term impact on Homeland Security policies and practices will be examined with particular attention to the role of the media, law, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and federal, state and local entities.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course will critically analyze drugs from a criminological, psychological, and legal perspective. The course will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between drugs and disparate treatment by race, class and gender from a multidisciplinary perspective. The course will place drugs into a larger conception of social justice and will familiarize students with research on the relationships between drugs and the larger structural elements of society from a national and global perspective.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course provides a criminological, psychological, and legal understanding of sex crimes and sexual offending. It examines the history of sexual offending and theoretical explanations for sexual offenses. A discussion of the extensive legal controls on sex offenders will be elaborated, and the dilemma of balancing the rights of the offenders and the rights of the community. The course will explore possible collateral consequences of legal controls and examine how restorative justice may assist sexual offenders and victims.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course critically examines the ways in which the media represents the intersection between gender and crime. It focuses on representations of crime, victimization, and workers in the criminal justice system as they shift along the spectrum of gender. The course has a strong intersectional and theoretical foundation, and introduces students to a wide variety of research on media, crime, and gender.
The goal of this course is to provide students with the theoretical foundations and practical applications of juvenile law. The course will utilize a model and method approach, which will present theory and procedure in a case problem context. The course will explore the history and philosophy of juvenile law, landmark court cases, police handling of juveniles and the pretrial and hearing process. It will acquaint students with various traditional legal theories and compare and contrast them with juvenile law as it has evolved to meet changes in society.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course critically examines the concept of policing, from police behavior and organization to operations and historical perspectives. It focuses on the relationship between the police and the community and how it has changed throughout the years. Students learn about the most important theoretical foundations and incisive research on contemporary policing and how that research is put into practice.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate level course critically examines the concepts and relationship of race and policing. Policing of race has shaped the United States since its inception. While theoretical concepts and functions around policing are a mainstay in most policing curriculums, this course highlights policing in practice based on a racial lens. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches, students will explore historical and contemporary forms of criminalization through policing, and state violence against black bodies and other racial minorities by police officers. The class will underscore specifically the topography of everyday racialized police practices or how racialized police work is fundamentally about the production and management of bodies and space.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course will provide students with the theoretical foundations and practical applications of the law applied to technology-based crimes. The course will utilize a model and method approach, which will present theory and procedure in a case problem context. The course will acquaint students with the procedures utilized in the detection and prosecution of computer crimes.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. Study of the laws and the framework regulations regulating domestic and international response to the global phenomenon of terrorism. Equivalent course JUST 518 effective through Fall 2019.
Preparation and trial of a criminal case as studied through case law, procedures, techniques and strategies. Contrast of New Jersey and Federal criminal procedure. Study of investigation, pleadings, motions, discovery, jury selection, evidentiary problems, direct and cross-examination and summations. Extensive use of simulation exercises.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course provides students with theoretical foundations and practical applications of international crime, law and organizations. It covers the concepts and enforcement of international law, with a focus on crimes, courts, arbitration mechanisms as well as organizations that work on mitigating and enforcing international issues. It will explore the sociological and political dimensions of international justice, with particular attention to actors and institutions. Equivalent course JUST 519 effective through Fall 2019.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. To provide students with a broad understanding of the different criminal justice systems through the examination of their historical backgrounds; sources of law and legal institutions. Study of substantive and procedural laws in representative countries of the common law and civil traditions. Equivalent course JUST 516 effective through Fall 2019.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course will provide students with a critical study of transitional justice. They will examine case studies in which societies attempt to cope with injustice and trauma in the aftermath of conflict, political violence and grave human rights violations. Initially, students will learn about historical and conceptual foundations of transitional justice. The course then exposes students to global transitional justice mechanisms, focusing on different social actors and their practices from a comparative perspective, including retributive justice, restorative justice and the politics of collective memory.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This is a graduate elective in the Justice Studies Master's program focusing on current issues of migration. The course introduces graduate students to the issue of international migration in today’s world while searching for policy solutions to migration and refugee issues, and discussing what just treatment of migrants and refugees looks like. The course explores multiple dimensions of migration including legal issues surrounding migration, theories of how fair migration might look in a just global normative order, economic effects of migration as well as migration’s political and social ramifications.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course examines international justice issues pertaining to international civil conflicts and the myriad justice‑related issues that emanate from them. Civil wars are the most common types of war in the world today. These conflicts lead to mass human suffering including the displacement of people and communities, violence against women and children, sexual violence, the recruitment and use of child soldiers, and many other human rights violations. To this end, understanding civil conflicts is critical to understanding why injustices are perpetrated internationally in the world today.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501 or JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course will critically analyze international justice issues pertaining to human rights in a global context and familiarize students with different scholarships on human rights. Based on a sociological perspective of human rights, the course will map the evolution of human rights ideology, examine different actors that promote these norms and discuss the challenges in protecting and enforcing human rights to promote international justice.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This graduate course explores how racial, economic, and cultural background can affect people’s access to a clean, safe, and productive environment. Social justice is at the heart of environmental justice, which advocates for fair treatment of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, economic capacity, national origin, and education level with respect to environmental politics and their implementations. Often poor and minority communities bear a disproportionately large burden of toxic contamination and suffer the resulting health problems. Disparities of this nature may be the result of historical circumstances, contemporary economic and trade relations, and inadequate or inappropriate governmental regulation. Disparities may also be the result of deliberate targeting of disenfranchised communities or weak nations to bear the burden of powerful community’s and nation’s unsustainable consumption patterns and these populations are perceived as the paths of least resistance.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course will focus on the leadership in the corrections system. This will include an examination of the agencies involved, and the historical and philosophical background of corrections. We will discuss several issues that impact the corrections system, both on an individual basis and on a broader societal scale. The issues that we will examine include: recruitment and training, treatment and education programs, the role of politics, technology, and accountability.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course will provide an analysis of the justice system in the United States. This will include the role of justice agencies as part of societal response to crime and social problems/issues, the knowledge base of crime and justice, social issues, problems, trends that impact crime and the criminal justice.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. This course introduces students to graduate‑level research and writing skills with specific attention to academic writing, justice studies research, proper use and citation of sources, avoiding plagiarism, and usage of style manuals. The seminar also provides an overview of different writing forms, including policy papers, reports and other research write‑ups to help students hone their analytical and writing skills.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500 and JUST 501 and JUST 502 and JUST 503 and JUST 597. Restriction(s): Justice Studies majors only; student must have earned a total of at least 27 credits, including electives; Justice Studies majors only; departmental approval required. Independent internship experience. Field placement experience along with faculty advisement.
Prerequisite(s): JUST 500; and JUST 501, JUST 502 or JUST 503. Independent research project done under faculty advisement. Students must follow the MSU Thesis guidelines, which may be obtained from the Graduate School. Students should take JUST 699 if they don't complete JUST 698 within the semester.