Criminal Justice Policy and Administration (CJPA)

This course provides a broad understanding of the social science study of criminal justice institutions and their decision-making processes. Criminal Justice Institutions focuses on the social scientific study of criminal justice institutions and their decision-making processes. The course presents an overview of key issues in theory and research on each major sector of the criminal justice system: policing, prosecution, criminal defense, courts, and corrections. The course also discusses the societal impact of these criminal justice sectors, and the relationship between research and criminal justice policy.

This course provides a survey of social science theories of criminal behavior at the individual and group levels. Theories of Crime provides an advanced survey of social science theories of criminal behavior at the individual and group levels. The course begins with an examination of the empirical study of crime, with an emphasis on crime data and its sources. The course progresses through biosocial, psychological, and sociological theories. The overarching emphasis of the course is to understand explanations of criminal behavior at the individual level and variations in crime rates at the group level.

This course provides students an overview of a wide range of works within the topic of the death penalty authored by the most renowned experts in the field. Various issues examined include legislative challenges, racial discrimination, wrongful conviction, cost, deterrence, mitigation research, and the role of health and mental health professionals. Through landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, influential meta-analyses on empirical studies, and legal analyses, this course provides an in-depth look at the theory, research, policy, and practice of this punishment, and discusses the limitations of current empirical approaches and the gap between practice and penological ideals.

Forensic victimology provides students with a basic understanding of the field of victimology and its historical developments. Through the use of statistical and theoretical application, students will better understand how to create victim profiles and how these profiles inform violence prevention, practice, and policy. Students will gain a basic understanding of threat assessment at the individual and community level, as well as safety planning strategies that are used to support crime and victimization prevention efforts. Further, forensic victimology provides an overview of the victim's role in the criminal justice system from investigation to intervention.

This course provides a survey of social research methods tailored to the field of criminal justice. This course provides a survey of social science research methods, applied to the study of criminal justice topics and the evaluation of criminal justice policies. The course discusses different sources of crime and justice data, survey research methods, experimental and quasi-experimental approaches, qualitative research approaches, and legal research. The course emphasizes the illustration of types of research methods with examples from criminal justice research and policy evaluation.

This course is a requirement for all students in the M.P.S. in Criminal Justice Policy and Administration. During their final semester, the student will work closely with a faculty adviser (selected to match the student on substantive and/or methodological expertise) on a self-selected criminal justice and policy administration-related capstone project. The student is expected to draw on data and methods encountered during their prior course work. At the end of the semester, the student will be required to make a formal peer presentation to other enrolled students and all their faculty advisers. The student also will be required to submit a final report/paper to their faculty adviser by the end of the semester.

This course provides a survey of criminal procedure and related constitutional law. Section 1 of the course explores the origins and evolution of criminal procedure, from its ancient roots through colonial times, the due process revolution, and modern law. Section 2 examines sources of modern criminal procedure, including statutory law, Supreme Court opinions, other case law, rules, regulations, and organizations' rules and regulations. Section 3 examines the Fourth Amendment and the evolution of search and seizure laws, including arrests, proper use of force, search warrants, and searches of places and things. This section presents older and more recent psychological conceptions of crime. Section 4 examines the Fifth Amendment, the federal due process clause, and the right to be free from forced self-incrimination; the Confrontation Clause; and the rights and responsibilities of all related criminal justice stakeholders in relation to these issues, including victims and defendants. Section 5 examines the Sixth Amendment, the right to counsel, evidence procurement and development, and criminal trial procedures. Section 6 examines the Eighth Amendment, the relationship between the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, pretrial versus post-conviction procedures, sentencing and correctional procedures, and the cruel and unusual punishment clause. Section 7 examines the Fourteenth Amendment, substantive due process clause, the equal protection clause, civil rights litigation, and the role of the writ of habeas corpus in criminal procedure. Section 8 allows students to demonstrate that they have mastered the above through a case study of a criminal case that has occurred within the past twelve months, or is ongoing.

This course is designed to cover topics related to global policing and police cooperation against global crime activities. Students will study how police organizations from different countries communicate, cooperate, and collaborate with each other in order to respond global crime threats. This course will start with comparing and contrasting police systems in different countries to give an idea about similarities and differences among police organizations around the world. Then, the emergence of global policing will be discussed to understand the historical development of police cooperation in the world. Theoretical frameworks for global policing will be covered to understand the change in the area of policing from local, state, and national levels to an international level. In this course, students will also analyze current global crime trends and understand the necessity of global policing. Moreover, international treaties and laws as well as international organizations against global crime will be discussed to examine the legal foundation and the structure of global policing. Bilateral and multilateral police cooperation initiatives will be studied to see how police agencies from different countries collaborate with each other. The role of U.S. law enforcement agencies in global policing and their assistance to other countries¿ police forces will be reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of U.S. agencies in global police collaboration. This course will also analyze peace operations to understand the role of international organizations as well as the U.S. in providing police assistance in order to restore order and create a sustainable society after a war or a civil unrest in a country. Best practices in police cooperation will also be discussed to give an idea about the effective working of police cooperation in practice and challenges and opportunities in police cooperation will be studied to understand the success and failure factors in police cooperation. This course will conclude with a discussion of the future of global policing to identify forthcoming issues and possibilities in global policing.

This course is about transnational crime activities happening around the world. Crime and criminal activities have become transnational due to globalization and advances in technology. The course will start with analyzing the universe of transnational crime to understand the current trends in transnational crime activities and the role of organized crime groups in these criminal activities. Students will study different types of transnational crimes every week to explore current issues related to crimes occurring beyond national borders. Transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, arms trafficking, counterfeiting, cybercrime, environmental crime, and money laundering will be analyzed to understand how transnational criminals commit these crimes, what types of strategies and tactics they use, and how law enforcement agencies try to fight against these crimes at the local, national, and international levels. Global responses and the U.S. response against transnational crimes will also be studied to evaluate the role of international organizations as well as the U.S. in the fight against transnational crime.

This course aims to understand the role of law enforcement in counterterrorism by analyzing the challenges, issues, and difficulties in policing terrorism. Root causes, strategies, and tactics of modern terrorist organizations are studied to understand the underlying motivations and the modus operandi of terrorist organizations. Law enforcement responses and contemporary policing strategies to fight terrorism are studied to evaluate their effectiveness in counterterrorism. Policing efforts to fight against domestic and international terrorist activities are also discussed to understand the new issues and challenges in policing global terrorism.

This course is an examination of theory, research, and policy involving courts and their sentencing decisions. The course aims to translate social science research and theory on courts and sentencing into useful perspectives and knowledge for criminal justice practitioners and policy analysts. The course discusses sentencing decisions and how they are shaped by law and policy, the social organization of local courts, and the decision-making discretion of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys. In addition, the course considers the pros and cons of various research strategies for evaluating sentencing policies in an evidence-based way.

This course provides a survey of ethical systems and theories. Section 1 provides an overview of the study of ethics, with definitions and a discussion of the parameters of ethical analysis. Section 2 presents the major ethical systems (utilitarianism, ethical formalism, religion, ethics of care, virtue ethics). Section 3 examines the origins of the concept of justice, distributive justice, corrective justice, substantive justice, procedural justice, immoral laws and the moral person, and restorative justice. Section 4 explains the theories of moral development, biological factors, learning theory, Kohlberg's moral stage theory, teaching ethics, and avoiding cynicism and burnout. Section 5 discusses the role of police in society as a crime fighter or public servant, police power and discretion, and the police subculture. Section 6 examines police discretion and discrimination, discretion in criminal investigations, and discretion and the use of force. Section 7 examines police misconduct and corruption as a worldwide problem, including international measures of corruption, on-duty use of drugs and alcohol, sexual misconduct, and criminal behavior by police. Section 8 examines the role of law, the law and legal behavior, justifications for law, and the various paradigms of law. Section 9 presents issues of discretion and dilemmas for the defense and the prosecution. Section 10 discusses ethical misconduct in the courts and the explanations and methods of response to the misconduct. Section 11 describes the issues involving discretion of correctional officers, treatment staff, and probation and parole officers.