Course Title Syllabus
California State University, Sacramento
Division of Criminal Justice
College of Health and Human Services

Spring 2002

Instructor

Overview

Resources

Syllabus

WebCT

Objectives

Assignments

Grades

Technology

Materials

Catalog Description: CRJ 001. Introduction to Criminal Justice and Society. Reviews the problem of crime and the societal response to criminals. Institutions discussed are those intended to discover the crime and the criminal and those designed to deal with the criminal, the victim, and society, once the criminal has been labeled. Finally, the bureaucracy of crime and its measurement as a social phenomenon are discussed.

No course prerequisites.

Number of Units: 3.0

View the course schedule.

Course Objectives

The student will:

1. Practice critical thinking in the area of Criminal Justice;

2. Review the historical development of social control systems in the United States.

3. Understand the emergence of the rule of law and its ultimate conflict with individual rights in a democratic society;

4. Critically examine the underlying premises upon which the criminal justice has been built;

5. Review the roles and goals of the various agencies involved in the criminal justice system;

6. Review the Judeo-Christian basis for current assumptions in Criminal Justice;

7. Systematically analyze the role of the police, courts, and corrections is a democratic society;

8. Examine the divergent and conflicting philosophies within the components of the criminal justice system; and,

9. Become conversant with the scope and quantification of the crime problem. This will include the measure of the crime problem as reflected in criminal statistics and the qualitative measure of the human environment of crime.

More detailed objectives are stated at the beginning of each chapter of the text.

Assignments

 The following assignments are due on the dates indicated.

Assignment	Percent	Due Date
Midterm Exam #1	25*	Febr.'02
Midterm Exam #2	25*	Apr. '02
Midterm Exam #3	25*	May '02
Assignments	25	Various
MONITORED FINAL EXAM	75*	May '02

Grades and Grading Policy

Students will take Exams #1, 2, and 3 in Web CT without supervision. However, these are closed book exams which will be submitted to the Instructor. All students are required to take the "Monitored Comprehensive Final Exam." The higher of the combined total of the 3 midterm exams or the Final exam will constitute 75% of the grade. If the Final Exam grade is substantially lower than the combined total of the 3 midterm exam grades, then the grade on the Final will be used. For example, if a person receives a grade comparable to an A on all midterms, but an F on the monitored Final Exam, they will have an F for 75% of the course.

A	Outstanding achievement	90 - 100
B	Excellent performance; clearly exceeds course requirements	80 - 89
C	Average	70 - 79
D	Passed, but not at average achievement standards	60 - 69
F	Failure to meet class requirement	59 and below
I     U	Incompletes: These are discouraged and will not be issued except in cases where a student has made previous arrangements with the professor. An incomplete grade means a portion of the requirements usually completed during one term remains to be completed and evaluated. Must be competed within a year or it is counted as an F. Unauthorized withdrawal indicates that a student did not officially withdraw from a course but failed to complete it. An unauthorized withdrawal is charged as a failing grade in GPA calculation.

Technology Requirements

 Students will need an electronic mail account and computer access to the Web. All CSUS students enrolled in one or more units can create a SacLink account for electronic mail and Internet services. Although a home computer with a high speed modem running Netscape or Internet Explorer would be beneficial, students can use the Web from one of the campus student labs.

Computing Recommendations

You should be comfortable using a computer and willing to browse the Web. This class requires online class participation on the Web assignments and electronic discussions.

You need:

• Macintosh compatible with System 8 or higher or Windows compatible Pentium running Windows 95/98 or Windows NT.
• 32MB of RAM, preferably 64MB
• 28.8K or faster modem - preferably 56K
• Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape 4.0 (or higher)
• SacLink or other Internet Account
• Word processing skills

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  Students need an electronic mail account and computer access to the Web. All CSUS students enrolled in one or more units can create a SacLink account for electronic mail and Internet services. Although a home computer with a high speed modem running Netscape or Internet Explorer would be beneficial, students can use the Web from one of the campus student labs.

Materials

 Required: The text for the course this semester is:

Albanese, Jay S. Criminal Justice, Interactive Edition. Boston MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

Optional:

Connick, George P. Ed. The Distance Learner's Guide. Upper Saddle River NJ 07458: Prentice Hall, 1998.

You can purchase books through the Hornet Bookstore. Check their Distance and Distributed Learning page at http://www.bookstore.csus.edu/bookstore/distance/ for ordering information.