10504915Current Topics in Criminal Justice
Course Information
Description
The Current Topics in Criminal Justice course content responds to current national, state or local events related to criminal justice. Explore victimization as it relates to current topics, such as terrorism, cybercrime, media, drug crimes, human trafficking, the death penalty and more. While this class focuses on critical issues in the United States, it offers a global perspective and incorporates examples from different parts of the world. Use critical reasoning and apply a critical analysis to a variety of readings on the class topic.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies
  1. Assess the challenges of combating human trafficking
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Describe the internationally agreed upon definitions of human trafficking
    Explain the role of interest groups and the media in defining human trafficking as an emerging social problem internationally and domestically
    Identify the causes and consequences of human trafficking
    Critically assess legal and policy responses to the problem of human trafficking in the United States and internationally

  2. Analyze attitudes, images and narratives of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States through an examination of film, television, media and literature
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Describe the history of criminal justice in film, television, media and literature
    Assess mainstream and critical perspectives on the impact that media has on crime
    Relate the role of film, television, music, media and literature to construction of society’s perceptions of crime, deviance, law and justice, heroism, vigilantism
    Relate the role of film, television, music, media and literature to construction of society’s perceptions and expectations relating to race/ethnicity, class, age, gender and sexuality

  3. Investigate mass, spree and serial killers
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Compare and contrast the profiles of mass, spree and serial killers
    Analyze the mind and motives of a serial killer
    Describe theories of causation of mass, spree and serial killers
    Describe the victimology of mass, spree and serial killers
    Discuss media and public fascination with serial and mass murderers

  4. Analyze historical and contemporary controversies around administration of the death penalty including potential innocence, special populations, and methods of execution
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Examine the historical perspective of the death penalty including the role of the Supreme Court in shaping the death penalty
    Cite methods of execution
    Assess the costs associated with the death penalty
    Describe the present-day death penalty and the roles of death penalty landmark cases
    Outline the flow and process of prosecuting a capital offense, including the execution
    Examine the legal philosophy behind the death penalty and the opposing arguments
    Cite known miscarriages of justice and discrimination in the use of the death penalty
    Analyze the role of the death penalty globally

  5. Examine the link between drugs and crime in society
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Describe drug types and patterns of use
    Describe social, individual and bio-chemical factors that impact definitions of drugs
    Examine theories of drug use, policies and disproportionate sentencing in drug related crimes
    Analyze the historic perspective of the war on drugs including policy making and outcomes
    Identify the social problems of drug use, abuse and trafficking
    Describe and examine strategies for reducing drug related crime and the social construction of drug use as a social problem
    Analyze community and police relations relating to law enforcement’s approach to drug crimes
    Describe biological, psychological and sociological theories that seek to explain drug using behavior
    Describe the social context and justifications for corrections, including rehabilitation, incapacitation, deterrence, and retribution

  6. Evaluate interventions for offenders
    Assessment Strategies
    Written product, PowerPoint and/or oral presentation, final exam
    Criteria
    Analyze and describe effectiveness of intervention programs and policies
    Describe how and why offenders are assessed for need and risk, and how this information is used
    Examine privatization, inmate violence, and crowding in corrections
    Evaluate correction programs, including probation and intermediate sanctions
    Describe the philosophical and historical backgrounds of alternative systems of justice, including restorative justice programs, community corrections, and therapeutic or problem-solving courts
    Discuss social views on punishment, freedom, and legal rights in the criminal justice setting