Spring 2026 Courses

Landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases are significant social, historic and legal events. Drawing from the humanities, criminal justice, and social sciences, this course examines the social and historical context of legal decisions as well as their impact. Students will critically analyze legal documents and identify connections to contemporary questions of justice in the U.S. Each semester, course sections focus on a different case(s) selected by the faculty.

Prerequisite

ENG 201 and junior standing or above

This course satisfies the College Option: The Struggle for Justice & Equality in the U.S. (300-Level) area of the Gen Ed Program

HUM 300: Section OL99: Registration Code: 41663  

Mandatory Live Meeting on Zoom, Tuesdays 4:30 - 5:45 PM  

HUM 300: Section OL98 Registration Code: 41664  

Mandatory Live Meeting on Zoom, Wednesdays 5:55 - 7:10 PM

Section OL99, Registration Code: 42984

Section OL98, Registration Code: 42985

Course Description: This research-based academic writing course prepares students to write effectively in their upper-level Criminal Justice courses. Focused on empirical writing, students will write about observations and patterns of behavior, investigating how arguments are made in the field of Criminal Justice. They will also learn to make original scientific inquiries, to structure empirical arguments, and to utilize a guided peer-reviewed writing process. This writing course also focuses on recognizing power structures and bias embedded in scholarly research and in the role of the researcher-writer’s position. Overall, the course will prepare students to produce logically organized, complex research-based writing projects within the field of Criminal Justice.

CJBS 250, Section OL98, Registration Code: 41503 

CJBS 250, Section OL99, Registration Code: 39043

This course will present the research process, types of studies, appropriate descriptive statistical techniques and guidelines for formulating research questions and testable hypotheses. It will also review how to decide on an appropriate population for study, how variables are constructed, and how data are collected and organized, and discuss sampling methods and sample size. A variety of research methods will be covered, including experimental, quasi-experimental and survey methods, as well as other forms of data collection and the use of existing databases. Students will also be exposed to qualitative methodologies including ethnography, observation, content-analysis, and interviewing techniques.

CJBS 300 OL-98 Course Registration Code: 38915

CJBS 300 OL-99 Course Registration Code: 38914

This course builds upon knowledge acquired in previous courses and connects theoretical approaches with practical applications. Students will study a broad array of assessments and evaluations of the policies and programs that have evolved in the field of criminal justice. Students will review and analyze experiments such as D.A.R.E., Minneapolis Domestic Violence and Kansas City Preventive Patrol in the light of relevant criminal justice theories. The ultimate goal of the course is to provide students with essential skills for critically evaluating and assessing programs, based on findings from empirical studies and the scholarly literature.

Prerequisite: CJBS 250

CJBS 415 OL-98 Registration Code: 38762

CJBS 415 OL-99 Registration Code: 38764

This capstone seminar is required of all Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice majors. It affords students the opportunity to reexamine and integrate the practical and theoretical knowledge and critical thinking skills acquired over the course of their studies within the major into a meaningful culminating experience. Students will participate in debates central to the understanding of the American criminal justice system. Focusing on reexamination of some prominent criminal justice texts, the course will require students to critically examine in depth an original work relative to its social and political context and to the theoretical and empirical literature. Students will also apply and advance theoretical arguments in oral and written form through an in-depth examination of a current or controversial issue of their choosing such as: the use of force by police, plea bargaining, or mass incarceration.

Prerequisite: CJBS 300

Section OL99    Registration Number: 41777

Current topics and problems in urban studies will be addressed from an anthropological perspective. The course examines cities as places where members of different groups come together in both cooperation and conflict. Students will examine the way global processes and local politics and culture have shaped and continue to transform the modern city. Students will engage with case studies from a variety of urban environments, including some in the United States, and will focus on various topics such as class, power, ritual, migration, lifestyle, ethnic tensions and alliances, social movements, and the meanings of space and place.

Prerequisite

ENG 101

Notes

This course satisfies the Flexible Core: World Cultures and Global Issues area of the Gen Ed Program.

This course counts towards the anthropology minor

Section OL99  Registration Number: 41307

This course examines crime, criminality and responses to crime from an anthropological and cross-cultural perspective. Students will analyze the concept of crime as a cultural construct and as a social phenomenon and consider its causes, factors and complexities in a global context. Norms and transgressions will be explored through ethnographic case studies of and cross-cultural research on a variety of world cultures and how power, economics, identity, gender, religion, and other meaning systems are integrated with these transgressions on local, national and global scales. Students will study cases critically and learn qualitative anthropological methods such as interviews and observation to consider and compare examples of and attitudes toward crime in their own society.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 101

Notes

This course satisfies the Flexible Core: World Cultures and Global Issues area of the Gen Ed Program.

Section OL99  Registration number: 39781

The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of the causes of sexual crimes and the treatment of sex offenders throughout the criminal justice process. There is an analysis of the laws that relate to sex offenders and the cyclical nature of sex offender legislation. The course examines the difficulty of balancing rights of the offenders and rights of the community, as well as what forms of community protection are viable for these individuals. By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of sex offender typologies, types of treatment offered, laws and policies regarding sex crimes, and the likely future direction of legislation.

Credits

3

Cross Listed Courses

PSC 230

Prerequisite

ENG 101 and one of the following: COR 101, PSC 101, CRJ 101, CJBS 101 or ICJ 101

Section OL99  Registration number: 43065

This course provides an overview of correctional systems and methods adopted by selected foreign countries and describes similarities and differences in philosophy.

Prerequisite

ENG 201, junior standing or above, and one of the following: CRJ 101, CJBS 101, COR 101 or ICJ 101, or permission of the section instructor

This course counts towards the corrections minor

Section: OL99    Registration Code: 43178

Examination of the role of race, class and gender within the institutional correctional community. Analysis of the impact upon clients, staff and administration through examination of current correctional institutions and case studies by selected corrections experts.

Prerequisites

ENG 201; and COR 101 or CJBS 101 or CRJ 101 or PSC 101; and sophomore standing or above

This course counts towards the corrections minor

Section OL98  Registration Code: 43578  

Section OL99 Registration Code: 43584

This course will explain the sources and consequences of stress. Key theories and terminology will be discussed and evaluated. A variety of instruments that measure stress levels among individuals will be demonstrated. Coping techniques enabling students to adjust to the demands of stress will be described and practiced.

PED 180 is an elective.

Section OL99 Registration Code: 41228   

This course provides an analysis of the historical development of the relationship of the states to the Bill of Rights. The effect of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment on the application of the Bill of Rights to the states is examined through a study of the leading Supreme Court decisions relating to criminal justice.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 101 and sophomore standing or above

LAW 209: Section: OL99 Registration Number: 41211

Viewing the criminal law as a means to the end of influencing human behavior, intensive analysis is made of various principles that apply in virtually every criminal case: justification, attempt, conspiracy, parties to crime, ignorance and mistake, immaturity, insanity and intoxication. The law of homicide is explored in all of its facets. The common law, statutes of New York and representative states, and what the law ought to be are studied.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 101 and sophomore standing or above

LAW 301: Section Number OL 99 Registration Number: 41114

This course considers the study of the theory and philosophy of law and the relationship between law and society. Issues to which special attention will be paid include the problem of disobedience, the nature of the judicial process, and the relations between law and personal morality. Current controversies about civil disobedience, the role of courts, non-victim crimes and the relationship of the police to the rule of law will be explored.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 201; and LAW 203 or POL 301; and junior standing or above

OL99 Registration Code: 43245    

Analysis of the politics of race and racism in the United States through the examination of major court decisions and of legislations affecting minority groups. Treatment of racial minority groups in the criminal and civil justice systems, and by courts, police and prisons will be included.

Credits

3

Cross Listed Courses

GOV 313 and POL 313

Prerequisite

ENG 201, and GOV 101 or POL 101, and junior standing or above, or permission of the section instructor

Section OL99    Registration number: 41044

This course will explore the pervasive influence of culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and various disabilities on daily encounters, contacts and interaction between police officers and civilian employees of police organizations, and other community members.  The emphasized focus is on the cross - cultural contact, ethno- cultural diversity, the need for awareness and understanding of cultural, ethnic, racial, religious, sexual orientation, gender, and an array of disabilities and other differences. The need to understand these differences is rooted in the concept of procedural justice and respect for those of different backgrounds that influences the decision making processes regarding deployment and other operational considerations.         

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 101 and one of the following: PSC 101, CRJ 101, CJBS 101 or ICJ 101

Section OL99   Registration number: 43011

An analysis of the social and political forces that guided the evolution of women's role in policing from ancillary specialist to integrated member of the police establishment. Role enhancement from "Police Matron" to "Policewoman" to "Police Officer" is studied against the backdrop of women's reform movements. Title VII Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 and Supreme Court rulings abolishing barriers to women in policing are examined. Study of women police in other countries in state and federal agencies. Topics include female officers' occupational role conflicts; performance on patrol; coping with physical and psychological stressors - male peer prejudice jealous mates favoritism sexual harassment; women's special attributes in policing; female detectives; the future including the role of women in key policy-making decisions.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 101 and one of the following: PSC 101, CRJ 101, CJBS 101 or ICJ 101

PSC 306: Section: OL99 Registration Number: 41037

The philosophy and methods of police programs for prevention and control of juvenile delinquency and youth crime. Emphasis on specific techniques and a consideration of the issues and problems to be resolved by police.

Credits

3

Prerequisite

ENG 201; and PSC 101 or CJBS 101 or CRJ 101 or ICJ 101

Section OL99   Registration number: 43027

An identification and analysis of the diverse ethical issues encountered in the police service. Traditional ethical theories will be examined and will be applied to such topics as discretion, deadly physical force, misconduct, authority and responsibility, affirmative action, civil disobedience, undercover operations and privacy.

Prerequisite

ENG 201; and one of the following: CJBS 101 or CRJ 101 or ICJ 101 or PSC 101

Notes

This course counts towards the police studies minor

Section OL99   Registration number: 41641

This course examines the changes in the methods, patterns and meanings of violence. Special attention is paid to individual and collective violence in the streets, in schools, at home, within the media, by the police, by terrorists and by the military. The major theories explaining the causes of violence, and important research about attitudes toward violence and the use of force to bring about change are reviewed.

Credits
3
Prerequisite
ENG 201, SOC 101, and junior standing or above

ECO 105: Section OL 99 Registration Number: 41509

This course studies how economic data describe the United States and its diversity. The course provides hands-on experience with finding and collecting economic data; then analyzing that data and generating graphs and other useful information. This course critically evaluates common sources of economic data and information. Particular emphasis is placed on macroeconomic statistics used in policy debates such as income, wealth, inequality, poverty, growth, inflation and productivity.

Credits

3

Notes

This course satisfies the Flexible Core: U.S. Experience in its Diversity area of the Gen Ed Program.