Department of Criminal Justice

MSCJ Course Descriptions

CRJC 500 (3-3-0) History of Crime Control Policy Historical study of societal responses to crime and disorder in the United States. 
The course includes a review of historical research on police, courts, corrections, criminal law, social movements and social disorder.

CRJC 510 (3-3-0) Criminal Justice Administration
This course is an introduction to the theoretical discourse of administration as applied to criminal justice. In this course, considerable attention will be on the theories of administration, but the emphasis of this course will be the application of administrative theory to criminal justice organizations and contexts. Areas of theoretical discourse covered will include classical/neo-classical, principles of administration, human resources, systems, cultural reform, and sense-making. Additional readings will provide examples of the application of administrative theories to criminal justice organizations and contexts.

CRJC 520 (3-3-0) Criminological Theory I: Classical and Positivist Theorists
This course is the first of two required graduate seminars in criminological theory. The course begins with a survey of the history and application of criminological thought, providing a foundation for analysis of the assumptions, elements and policy implications of theories of crime and criminal justice. As the first of two graduate theory seminars, this course focuses on theories within two major paradigms in criminological theory:  Classical and Positivist Criminology. We explore the perspectives on crime and criminal justice that permeate public discourse on crime and justice and critique the formal criminological theories to which these everyday perspectives are linked. We consider whether existing research provides support for widely accepted theories and we examine the criminal justice policies associated with different criminological theories. Students are guided in the process of formulating their own research questions and policy proposals from the criminological theories that they find most compelling.

CRJC 530 (3-3-0) Criminological Theory II: Critical Criminology
This course is the second of two required graduate seminars in criminological theory. The course begins with a review of the history and application of criminological thought, which provides a foundation for continued analysis of the assumptions, elements and policy implications of theories of crime and criminal justice. We begin our deeper analysis of theories where the first theory seminar left off, with the third major paradigm in criminological theory: Critical Criminology. We explore theories of crime and criminal justice that are found in public discourse and critique the criminological theories to which these everyday perspectives are linked. We consider whether existing research provides support for specific theories and we examine the criminal justice policies associated with different criminological theories. Students are guided in the process of formulating their own research questions and policy proposals from the criminological theories that they find most compelling. Prerequisite: CRJC 520

CRJC 540 (3-3-0) Research Methods in Criminal Justice
This course provides students with the fundamental tools for evaluating, designing and implementing basic and applied empirical research within the area of criminal justice. The association between theories and research methods used in the study of criminal justice is explored through a variety of related data sources. Topics covered include: the principles of research design; problems of inference; survey design; and basic methods of data analysis. Students will obtain hands-on experience in project design and data analysis.

CRJC 550 (3-3-0) Statistical Applications in Criminal Justice
This is a required course which provides a foundation for the use of statistical methods in criminal justice and public affairs research. It will review fundamentals of research, showing the interplay between the research, the statistical method, and the interpretation.  The course includes a lab that involves computerized data analysis. 

CRJC 570 (3-3-0) Race, Crime and Justice
The course will examine research exploring the involvement of racial minorities in crime and the treatment of racial minorities by the criminal justice system. The course will also provide an in-depth examination of the inequalities within the criminal justice system and its relationship to structural inequalities within the wider society. This course will examine the theoretical and empirical debates on the disparities in law and justice based on race and class. Topics include: wrongful convictions and racial prejudice; the war on drugs and the politics of race. Case study materials focus on current debates of seminal issues.

CRJC 580 (3-3-0) Females, Crime and Justice
Theory and practice have focused on perceptions of male scholars and practitioners and discussions about male offenders. It was not until the 1970s that crime affecting women and girls and more serious inclusion of women criminal justice scholars and practitioners was given more attention. This course will focus on female experiences as offenders, victims, and workers within the criminal justice system. Additionally, we will explore treatment programs that have been proposed to decrease female-perpetrated crime in both a historical and contemporary context.

CRJC 590 (3-3-0) Ethics in Criminal Justice
This course is an intensive examination of different ethical and moral issues/dilemmas that we face within and outside of criminal justice systems when dealing with people who either work for or come contact with the system. Emphasis will be on exploration of ethical/moral issues related to crime, criminal justice practice, education, and research.

CRJC 600 (3-3-0) Corporate and Government Crime
Study of criminal behaviors by corporation and government leaders, with an emphasis on events impacting the people of the United States. The course explores the nature and extent of these criminal behaviors, the causes associated with them, their harm to people and societies, and strategies to reduce the number of events and/ or their harmful impacts.

CRJC 610 (3-3-0) Organizational Change in Criminal Justice
Organizational change is inevitable, and often necessary. For criminal justice organizations, often change is badly needed and/or poorly managed. In this course, several key theoretical approaches to guiding organizational change will be examined and applied to criminal justice organizations. Readings will focus on helping recognize the need for change, making change-resistant organizations into learning organizations, and how to lead the change efforts, as well as offering examples of theoretical application of these ideas to criminal justice organizations.

CRJC 620 (3-3-0) Juvenile Delinquency and Justice
This course will take a critical approach in examining different issues related to juvenile delinquency and justice. Theoretical aspects of juvenile deviant/delinquent behavior, and societal reactions and institutional responses to young law violators will be addressed. Finally, different prevention approaches and strategies will be evaluated.

CRJC 630 (3-3-0) Communities, Justice and Social Change
This course is a graduate seminar on communities, justice and social change in the contemporary urban context.  In this course, we give focused attention to "hard-hit" communities, i.e. communities where both crime and criminal justice activity exist in concentrated levels.  We consider the impacts of crime on neighborhoods and communities, and we also examine the impacts that traditional criminal justice practices have on these communities. Strategies for empowering local communities to improve the quality of life and the quality of justice in the urban environment are explored.

CRJC 640 (3-3-0) Qualitative Methods in Criminal Justice
This course provides an introduction to qualitative research methods and how they are often applied in the study of crime and justice. Qualitative methods includes a wide variety of challenging techniques such as participant observation, ethnography, interviewing, field interviews, historical analysis, case studies, and textual analysis. The course will explore these various techniques as well as the uses, strengths and limitations of qualitative research. In addition, the course content will include designing, conducting, and writing up qualitative research. Finally, the process of grounded theory construction is explored. 
Prerequisite: CRJC 540, Research Methods in Criminal Justice.

CRJC 650 (3-3-0) Program Evaluation in Criminal Justice
This course will familiarize students with key components of program evaluation in criminal justice organizations and contexts. This course will combine aspects of social research methodology and applied research techniques and skills to the context of the practice of criminal justice. Students who successfully complete this course should expect to be able to perform evaluative services to their current and/or future agencies. Prerequisites: CRJC 540 and CRJC 550.

CRJC 660 (3-3-0) Current Issues in Victimology
Victim’s issues largely have been ignored within the criminal justice system and the field of criminal justice academia until recently (the last 30 years). As crime victims are an integral component to eradicating and/or dealing with crime it is important that the myriad issues surrounding this diverse population be explored. This course will look at three main areas concerning victimology: 1) the effects or impact of crime victimization; 2) provision of assistance to crime victims and the criminal justice system - victim interaction; and 3) victim-oriented legislation and victim’s bills of rights.

Students will be called to investigate, in depth, how criminal justice agencies help or hinder victim recovery, as well as evaluate the effectiveness of victim serving agencies in relation to the different state’s victims’ bill of rights. Prerequisite: CRJC 540.

CRJC 670 (3-3-0) Special Topics in Criminal Justice
This variable topics course will offer students the opportunity to explore specialized areas of criminal justice on a variety of criminal justice subjects. The topics vary from semester to semester. The course can be repeated up to three times as long as the subject matter is different. 

CRJC 698 (3-0-0) Thesis I
An extensive research experience in an approved topic of choice. Prerequisites: CRJC 500, 510, 520, 530, 540, and 550

CRJC 699 (3-0-0)Thesis II
Continued work on the approved topic of choice begun in CRJC 698. Prerequisite: CRJC 699

CRJC 899 (0-0-0) Thesis Non-credit
This course is required for students that have completed their course work and the number of thesis hours for credit required in their graduate degree program. Students who will continue to use University resources in completing their thesis must enroll in this course. 
CJ Course