Examines how the criminal justice system operates. Focuses on the concept of punishment, the role of the police and the attorney, bail, trials, pleas, sentencing, and corrections. Critiques the system from a value-committed justice perspective. May count as a political science course.

This course provides students with a substantive and practical knowledge base in the area of criminal investigation by learning about the methods used by criminal investigators in solving criminal cases. Students will develop interogative and reporting skills that will enhance their effectiveness in the field of criminal justice. They will examine their investigative roles from a Christian ethical perspective. This course of study will emphasize critical thinking in investigating criminal cases and the ability to effectively communicate in written and oral form.

This course focuses on the recognition, collection, preservation, and analysis of the various types of physical evidence typically found at crime scenes. Students will be presented with principles and theories relating to the techniques used with the presumption that students do not have extensive scienfic backgrounds. Laboratory instruction included. Prerequisite: CMJ110. Laboratory fee applies.

The Introduction to Policing course provides a comprehensive view into the foundations of policing in the United States today, offering a balanced and up-to-date overview of who the police are and what they do, the problems they face, and the many reforms and innovations that have taken place in policing. It will cover the critical role of the beat cop, the fundamental problems in policing, the career path of police officers, and a level- by-level overview of police organizations. The course will present a comprehensive and contemporary overview of what it means to be a police officer, including analyzing the role of race, ethnicity, and gender as they relate to policing.

The course will present an examination of the organization and jurisdiction of local, state, and federal law enforcement, judicial, and correctional systems; their history and philosophy; terminology; and constitutional limitations of the system. It includes implications for civil rights, the police process, the prosecuting attorney, the defense attorney, courts, grand jury, trial jury, coroner-medical examiner, judicial process, and the trial and its aftermath. Prerequisite: CRMJ 105.

This course is designed to aid in investigating the relationship between crime and its impact on victims' lives. This course will facilitate victimization study, including the relationship between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system, and the connections between victims and other societal groups and institutions. Finally, this course investigates the ways in which each of us, as citizens in a global community, can aid in the healing and restoration of those whose lives have been impacted by crime. Emerging issues such as victim impact statements, victim assistance programs, victim directed sentencing and victim offender reconciliation will be addressed.

Restorative Justice is an approach within criminal justice that examines the dynamics, philosophy, and historical evolution of a Biblical model of justice and how it can be applied to the current criminal justice system, restoring victims, communities, and offenders from harms caused by crime. This introductory course examines the responsibilities of each of the principals in the restorative process and includes a biblical perspective. The role of the Christian community in implementing and monitoring changes is explored.

This course provides an overview of the phenomenon of juvenile justice and the system designed to handle this form of social deviance. Topics that will be covered include discussions of theoretical explantions of delinquency, the evolution of the concept of juvenile justic, and the system's response to the probems of child abuse, status offenders, delinquent youth gangs, and trends in juvenile crime. Students will learn about relevant court cases, understand their application, and be asked to examine their significance through a Christian worldview.

This course will address the different explanations of drug use and abuse and the impact of drugs on the body and brain funtioning. It will examine the connections between drugs and crime, cover drug-related policies and the war on drugs. We will examine alternative drug policies, including international drug policies and the war on drugs. Students will be asked to critically examine drug policies and programs, especially those within the United States within a faith perspective.

This course concentrates on crime and criminal justice systems around the world. These systems will be compared and contrasted with the criminal justice system in the United States. Students will develop an appreciation for the diversity in cultures, religions, politics, and other external forces that affect the various criminal justice systems.

Correctional Systems examines the evolution of and debates concerning community and non-community based correctional programs; relationships between correcting, reforming, rehabilitating, and punishing; tensions between protection of public safety and rights of the accused; evaluation of incarceration, probation, parole, diversion, alternate, and restorative justice programs; issues in proactive and reactive debate.

Criminology is a theory course designed to review and analyze the major criminological theories. Students will analyze causes of criminal behavior, recommend treatment of offenders and contemplate the integration of causation and treatment with the Christian worldview.

A survey of research methods employed in the social sciences. Emphases include theory construction, measurement and data gathering techniques, sampling, data analysis, and research ethics.

The rapid increase in transnational organized crime (gangs), commercial drug trafficking organizations, and the impact of crime on national and international policy has created a critical need for law enforcement gang experts. The course provides the student with an introduction to the methods and techniques of gang intelligence analysis and strategic organized crime. It will demonstrate how to predict trends, weaknesses, capabilities, intentions, changes, and warnings needed to dismantle transnational organized crime (gangs). In addition, the course also explores organized crime's influence in the public and private sector industries. The criminal, civil, and administrative methods which are used to control or remove organized criminal influence from these industries are also presented and examined. Finally, outlining the gang cycle: prevention, intervention, and suppression.

Criminal Investigation is a comprehensive and engaging examination of criminal investigation and the role criminal evidence plays in the process. The course focuses on the five critical areas essential to understanding criminal investigations: background and contextual issues, criminal evidence, legal procedures, evidence collection procedures, and forensic science. The course material will go beyond a simple how-to on investigative procedures and analyzes modern research and actual investigative cases to demonstrate their importance in the real world of criminal justice.

This course provides an in-depth examination of a serious justice issue: wrongful convictions. We will cover the prevalence of wrongful convictions and the factors that contribute to it, including eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, bias, and faulty forensic science. Students will learn about relevant court cases, understand their application, and be asked to examine the significance of wrongful convictions through a Christian worldview. Students will develop a plan to reduce wrongful convictions.

This course provides students with a perspective on the role of gender in crime and punishment. There are patterned differences in the roles males and females perform in the criminal justice system, in the crimes men and women commit, and in the crimes that victimize men and women. This course examines these questions from an historical and contemporary perspective, analyzing the changing legal status of women, and the institutional response to women and victims and criminals.

This course focuses upon contemporary topics and trends in the criminal justice setting. Topics will include: new initiatives in probation, parole, and corrections, trends in juvenile justice, continuing emergence in Restorative Practices, Criminal Justice in pop culture, the role media plays in the system as a whole, policing in America, and promising practices in criminal justice. Additionally, the course will identify and evaluate research trends of the National Institute of Justice, i.e., corrections, policing, data driven/evidence-based programming, and technological development in criminal justice.

This course examines the ways in which social class, racial, ethnic and gender identfication, and labeling shape the victimization, offending, and criminal justice processing of individuals. This course provides students with a perspective on the role of race, class, and gender in crime and punishment. There are patterned differences in the roles males and females perform in the criminal justice system, in the crimes men and women commit, and in the crimes that victimize men and women. Similarly, race and class alter the experiences of men and women who are involved with the criminal justice system. This course examines these questions from an historical and contemporary perpspective, analyzing the changing legal status of individuals in terms of their race and gender as well as the institutional response to individual victims and criminals based on their social location.

The course will focus on the causes and impact of domestic violence, as well as strategies for its prevention, for treatment for those who have been abused, and for intervention strategies for abusers. Each week students will focus on a different aspect of family violence including partner abuse, child abuse, sibling abuse, and elder abuse, examining them through the Christian world view. This course will examine how the criminal justice system responds to domestic violence as well, and how that response has changed over time.

Students will apply criminal justice concepts and theories to policy and program change, critique the major foundations and assumptions of the discpline, and examine key justice issues facing the criminal justice system. The course seeks to challenge students to think Christianly about major dilemmas of merging Christian thought and the crminal justice system and policies.