Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This seminar will explore the challenge of creating effective community responses to the problems of substance abuse, with a special focus on substance abuse in urban poverty areas. Readings will be drawn from the literature of history, psychology, urban ethnography, public health and law. The course will first place drug policy decisions in an historical and empirical framework. After considering special topics related to this framework - racial issues in anti-drug law enforcement, the challenges of creating partnerships among public sector agencies and the community, emerging concepts of addiction, the social demographics of drug use in diverse community contexts - this course will focus on the process of local strategy development, implementation and success measurement. Finally, the course will consider the issues raised in the integration of local and national strategies.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Program. This course will examine the relationship among crime, criminal justice and the community as well as the impact of crime on local neighborhoods and community institutions. The role of the community in the criminal justice system and processes of social control are also examined. Topics covered include: local measurement of crime statistics; community policing; prevention and early intervention strategies; community corrections and intermediate sanctions. Strategies for empowering local communities to address the quality of life in the urban environment are also explored.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

A sociological examination of contemporary police systems. Attention will be devoted to controversial topics in American policing and will involve comparative analyses with policing in other societies. The major focus of the course is around the relationship of the police and the public. Some examples of topics areas are: policing multicultural populations; managing police discretion; ethnic and gender relations among police personnel; and the rights of defendants.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

3 credits

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course will examine the major issues in the adult correctional system. Traditional incarceration as well as pretrial and post-conviction alternatives will be explored. Covered topics may include: prison and jail overcrowding; issues in classification; mental health and incarceration; substance abuse treatment within the prison setting; prison security and disturbances; vocational and educational programming within prisons; ethics and corrections.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course examines the array of issues concerned with the administration and operation of the juvenile justice system. The historical, philosophical, and legal foundations of the juvenile justice system will be examined along with the legal and philosophical changes within the system in contemporary period. Special attention will be given to the Massachusetts model of juvenile corrections and treatment.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course examines, from the perspective of a working judge, the administration of justice in the community courts. Topics include the role of the judge; relationships between prosecutors, defense lawyers, and the courts; the relationship between the courts and the police; the pros and cons of plea bargaining' the goals of sentencing; and the clash between victim's rights and defendant's rights. Difficult kinds of cases will be addressed, such as cases of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and crime relating to substance abuse. Questions concerning judicial accountability and the role of judges in the community will also be raised.

Term Offered

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Restorative justice is a philosophical framework which poses an alternative to our current way of thinking about crime and justice. Through restorative justice, all the stakeholders to crime - victims, offenders, families, the wider community and the state - are active in response to crime. This course examines both the theoretical foundation of restorative justice rooted in a variety of legal and religious traditions; and the array of practices associated with restorative justice from around the world. Restorative justice philosophy and practice has impacted all areas of the criminal justice system including policing, probation, courts and the correctional programming for juvenile and adult offenders. Students will be afforded a hands-on experience through role-playing, guest speakers and field trips in the application of restorative values to contemporary justice system. Students will examine the meaning of justice in their own experiences, and be challenged to envision a community-based restorative response to crime and violence.

Term Offered

Offered Spring Term

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This seminar focuses on two interrelated types of violence, battering and sexual assault. Both of these crimes have been the subject of intense political organizing, cultural controversy, and criminal justice reform over the past 25 years. Together these issues currently account for a significant portion of the work of the police and courts. The research literature on these topics has increased dramatically in recent years. There are now many studies of women victimized by batterings and rape, and of men who commit these crimes. There is a growing body of research on institutional responses to such violence, particularly criminal justice responses. There is new literature on the racial and class dimensions of this violence, on trauma and recovery, and on battering in lesbian and gay relationships. This course examines these crimes from psychological, sociological, and criminal justice perspectives.

Term Offered

Offered Fall Term

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course will focus on the policy implications of various sociological theories of crime and punishment. Focus will be on the analysis of various alternative policies within the criminal justice system both within the U.S. and in Europe. Attention will be given to the politics of crime control and to the role of the media, citizen groups and other interest groups in shaping criminal justice policy.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Victimology is the study of crime victims. In the history of criminology and criminal justice, this has been a surprisingly neglected topic. This course investigates the relationship between victims of crime and offenders; the harms suffered by crime victims; recovery from victimization; and the response to crime victims by criminal justice institutions and the "helping professions". Critical attention will also be given to victimization occurring within criminal justice institutions as in the case of rape in prisons. Recent changes in criminal justice responses to victims of child abuse, violence against women, and "hate crimes" will also be addressed. Topics will also include the public reaction to crime victims and recent organizing around "victim's rights".

Term Offered

Offered Spring Term

Prerequisites

3 credits

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Thematic investigations of problems and topics in criminal justice. Special topics include but are not limited to the areas of domestic violence and sexual assault; children and crime; crime; justice and popular culture; restorative justice; community policing; drugs and the law, drug policy, crime mapping, counterterrorism policy, female offenders and criminalistics.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. A sociological investigation of the relationship between crime and justice in contemporary American society. The possibilities and limits of traditional approaches to crime control are examined in the context of our search for harmony, justice and social change. Problems in evaluating the techniques, goals, and effectiveness of criminal justice agencies and organizations are considered as well as models for rethinking the scope and nature of our responses to crime.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. This course provides students with the fundamental tools for evaluating, designing and implementing basic and applied empirical research in 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; issues in measurement; modes of observation; basic methods of data analysis; and ethical concerns. Students will obtain hands-on experience in project design through the development of their own research proposal.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course examines two subjects throughout the semester: substantive criminal law (e.g. what is money laundering, the insanity defense, conspiracy?); and criminal procedure: 4th Amendment (search and seizure), 5th Amendment (due process, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, etc.), 6th Amendment (right to a lawyer, public trial, etc..), 8th Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment), 14th Amendment (due process, equal protection of law), 1st Amendment (interaction of criminal law with free expression and with religious rights), and 2nd Amendment (firearms). Unlike other similar undergraduate and graduate courses, this one emphasizes principles and case summaries, de-emphasizes actual cases and case names, and does not entail teaching how to brief (summarize) cases.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

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, class and gender. Topics include: wrongful convictions and racial prejudice; the war on drugs and the politics of race; gender and the issue of judicial leniency; victimization and class. Case study materials focus on current debates of seminal issues.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course examines the ethics of criminal justice professionals' use of deceptive interrogation, undercover operations, confidential informants, excessive force, and fabricated evidence; the ethics of prosecutors, prisons, and whistle-blowing; and administrative approaches, such as ethics training, to ethical problems, such as corruption. Students will learn the major schools of ethical thought, including utilitarianism, ethical formalism, and the ethics of care, so that they can assess situations systematically. The course relies on real-life ethical problems from news outlets and government reports.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

CJ 702 OR CJ 703

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. This course introduces students to the foundations of statistical analysis. Topics include: measures of central tendency; dispersion; probability; sampling distributions; hypothesis testing; correlations; and regression. Using SPSS software, students will be required to apply statistical concepts to existing data resulting in a completed research project.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This class explores the images of the traditional "bad" girl in films. The course examines the idea of moving beyond merely the delinquent, many images in film suggest that girls and women who break with the socially condoned role of femininity are somehow bad. Girls and women who have power or challenge authority are often portrayed in films as deviant and therefore "bad." Girls and women who are "frigid" are just as "bad" as their sexually promiscuous silver-screen opposites. This course further focuses on the impact of these images on real life social roles for girls and women as well as the symbiotic relationship between fact and fiction.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This course provides an overview of youth gangs and their sociological underpinnings, which are rooted in poverty and racism. Theories of gang formation and individual gang membership will be examined closely. Study topics include the history of gangs, gangs and criminal behavior, socio-cultural importance of gangs, and strategies to control gang behavior as well as community responses more generally. The course will utilize current gang issues in the US generally and in Massachusetts in particular as a basis to better understand the nuances of youth gangs.

Term Offered

Occasional

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This practicum is designed for the working professional graduate student who does not anticipate a career change but intends to seek advancement in their profession. The purpose of this practicum is to allow the student (1) to integrate what they learned in the classroom with their professional career, (2) to anticipate future opportunities in their profession, and (3) to develop a formal network of well-established colleagues. Students register for one semester and must meet with the practicum advisor in the semester prior to the practicum. Library research, interviewing, and a presentation will be required. Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits

Course Credits

3.00

Description

This practicum is designed for the working professional graduate student who does not anticipate a career change but intends to seek advancement in their profession. The purpose of this practicum is to allow the student (1) to integrate what they learned in the classroom with their professional career, (2) to anticipate future opportunities in their profession, and (3) to develop a formal network of well-established colleagues. Students register for one semester and must meet with the practicum advisor in the semester prior to the practicum. Library research, interviewing, and a presentation will be required.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging an internship. 3 credits.

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Placements are designed for the student who has no previous experience in a criminal justice agency or for the professional who wants to make a career change. The primary objective is to provide the student with the opportunity to experience the day-to-day functioning of a criminal justice agency. The student may register for one or two semesters and must meet with the internship advisor in the semester prior to the placement. A minimum commitment of working one day per week per semester (total minimum of 110 hours per semester) is required.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Placements are designed for the student who has no previous experience in criminal justice or for the professional who wants to make a career change. The primary objective is to provide the student with the opportunity to experience the day-to-day functioning of a criminal justice agency. The student may register for one or two semesters and must meet with the internship advisor in the semester prior to the placement. A minimum commitment of working one day per week per semester (total minimum of 110 hours per semester) is required.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring

Prerequisites

Course Credits

3.00

Description

Students pursue an in-depth research project under the direction of a qualified member of the graduate faculty.

Term Offered

Offered Both Fall and Spring