CJ 201/SOC 201

Introduction to Criminal Justice

Dr. Oberweis Peck Hall, 1231

Summer, 2009 Syllabus and course description

Contacting Me

To reach me, you may

• use email toberwe@siue.edu; (preferred)
• call my office at 650-3292; or
• visit me in my office during office hours or by appointment.

Office hours are: TBD

My preference is that you use email to contact me, but if you haven’t received a response within 24 hours, please email again, as I have not received your message or something has gone wrong.

Course Description

In this course, students will gain an overview of the American Criminal Justice System. Interactions between police, courts and corrections systems will be examined.

Course Objectives

Students who complete this course should be able to

1) articulate the role of the police

2) articulate the role of the courts in criminal processes

3) articulate the intention and practices of corrections

4) understand the interconnectedness of these three areas of the practice of justice for criminals

Required Course Texts

Inciardi, James. 2008. Criminal Justice, 8^th or 9^th Edition (depending on the cycle in textbook rental)

*Available through textbook rental

.

Course Grades

Summary of grading

Three Exams 20% each 60% Total

Three Quizzes 5% each 15% Total

Discussion Groups 10% 10% Total

Media Paper 15% 15% Total

Quizzes: I will give scheduled quizzes throughout the semester. Quizzes generally cannot be made up and there will be no extra credit to compensate for missing a quiz. Quizzes are objective (T/F or Multiple Choice) and will be based on reading and lecture material. Each quiz is worth 5% of your overall course grade, for a total of 15% for all quizzes combined.

Discussion Boards: Students will be arranged in groups and each group will receive a weekly question. These questions are to be discussed on BB and the quality of contributions will be assessed, as well as (to a lesser extent) the quantity of submission.

Exams: There will be three regular exams for this course. Exams will be a combination of objective, practical and list, short answer and essay questions.

Media Paper: Each student will write a 5-7 page paper linking the things we cover in class with media representations of our criminal justice system.

Professionalism: Students are expected to treat the online classroom experience in a professional manner. Contributions to discussion boards must be grammatical, professional, courteous and intellectual. Students are expected to think and consider course material at a college level, engaging with the material in a scholarly way.

Assignments must be submitted on time, in a professional format. Plagiarism will result in failure.

Special Needs: Any student with special circumstances, whatever these are, should see me or contact me so that I am aware of these circumstances. Students living with disabilities, working full time, or in any other special circumstance should let me know as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary hardship. I am able to work with you to support a variety of special needs, as long as arrangements are made in advance of a graded assignment. Students who fail to coordinate special circumstances with me well in advance of graded work, or who do not supply the appropriate documentation should not expect any exceptions to be made to support such circumstances once a grade has been given.

Make Up Exams: A student with an extreme situation may be able to take an all-essay make up exam/quiz. Students must alert me to the problem before test time, or no make up will be allowed. Simply not showing up and contacting me later will result in a zero. Documentation of a serious illness or other extreme situation is required. No student will be able to make up more than one exam/quiz. A desire to travel, a failure to coordinate a work schedule, failure to adhere to the time change are all insufficient reasons to require a make up exam.

Grading Policy: A “C” represents “average” performance (and scores between 70-79). A “B” represents “above average” performance (and scores between 80-89). Be aware that it will require effort on your part to achieve at the “above average” level. In particular, it is quite unlikely that students who elect not to do the reading will be able to perform at an “above average” level. An “A” represents “excellent” performance (and scores between 90-100). It will require sustained effort on your part to achieve at the “excellent” level.

A course Calendar will be supplied when the term of course offering is solidified. It will look something like this:

Module 1: Police

Exam I

Module 2: Courts

Exam II

Module 3 Corrections

Exam III

Media Paper