Criminal Justice (CJ)

This course introduces the student to the structure, operations and philosophy of the American system of criminal justice.

Fitness, exercise, health and conditioning for everyone. This course will also help to prepare students for federal job standard fitness tests.

The course explores the study of crime causation, primarily from a sociological perspective. Students are introduced to theories that explain the nature, extent, patterns, and control of criminal and delinquent behavior.

This course provides the student with a comprehensive review of current police practices and procedures. Particular attention will be paid to the development of police ethics, control of corruption, and the administration of a large police agency.

The historical and legal foundations of the modern practices of probation and parole in America are studied. The course will emphasize the administration and organization of the probation and parole system.

This course will address many of the issues concerning correctional institutions, for example: the organization and function of the prison system, the role of the corrections officer in the rehabilitative process, modern thought concerning prison reform, the character of the modern prisoner, and prisoners' and officers' rights.

The course exists to introduce interested St. Francis College students to the operations of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security was created following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. DHS currently encompasses twenty-two federal agencies, including the Secret Service, US Coast Guard, TSA, FEMA, and US Customs and Border Protection. The course is a requirement for students who declare a concentration in Homeland Security. The course will fit well in the field's curriculum as a specialized topical course of instruction for students who seek employment with the federal government, particularly with agencies in the Department of Homeland Security.

The student will be exposed to explanatory theories of terrorism with an eye to the creation of counterterrorism policy, while appreciating the delicate balance of protecting civil rights in a democratic society.

The course will analyze the security procedures, programs, systems and equipment in the aviation industry. Pertinent legislation concerning aviation security is reviewed from a historical and modern perspective.

This course will present a legal review of the constitutional, statutory and procedural rights of the accused in the matters of lawful arrest, fair trial, and just sentence.

This course provides a survey of the basic elements of American criminal law and provides an analysis of current legal issues. Particular attention is given to state laws in New York.

This course will introduce the student to the techniques of scientific criminal investigation with emphasis on the value of various scientific aids to the officer, detective, or field investigator. This course will examine techniques used in investigating major criminal cases such as kidnapping, arson, bombings, and organized crime.

This course will introduce the student to the actors and basic stages in the process of investigating a major crime scene. The student will become familiar with the techniques of interview and interrogation, evidence collection, and chain of custody issues. The course will also introduce the student to the roles and duties of the responding officer, the detective, the evidence collection officer, and the supervising officer.

This course focuses on the intersection of criminality, crime, and mass media. The student will explore media representations of those involved in the criminal justice system including law enforcement, offenders, and victims. Various media formats will be discussed as well as fictional and non-fictional representations of crime.

This course offers a comprehensive survey of the field of victimology, particularly the empirical study of victimization and crime victims. We will explore the history of victimology, the role of victimologists, and responses to victimization.

The course analyzes and critiques the history and current realities of punishment in America. The inexorable links between prisons, prisoners, and racial, ethnic, and socio-economic status will be examined. The student will analyze the realities of prison life including issues of violence, education, healthcare, drug treatment, and mental health issues. Challenges to reentry will be addressed.

This course focuses on the history and social reaction to sex offenders and sex crimes in America. We exam research related to treatment, management, and recidivism. We critically analyze the history and social context of emerging mechanisms of social control aimed at curbing sex offenses including sex offender registries and community notification laws. This course is part of the American Studies minor.

This course introduces students to factors associated with wrongful convictions including eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, forensic error, informant testimony, and prosecutorial misconduct. Students examine the consequences of wrongful convictions and assess the impact on exonerates, their families, and the broader community. Students will assess policy solutions to address these injustices.

This is an introduction to the field of private security. An overview of security organizations, policies, and personnel is presented.

The course will trace the history and development of organized crime in this country. Investigative techniques for penetrating organized criminal activities and prosecution strategies will be discussed.

This course will study the history and prevalence of occupational, corporate, and computer crimes in a modern setting. Investigative and prosecution strategies will also be addressed.

Cross-listed with: PSY-2130. Review of research and theories concerning all forms of addictive behavior, including drug, alcohol, gambling, and sex addictions. Prerequisite: SOC 1000. This course is a Criminal Justice elective. 3 credits. Offered as needed.

Cross-listed with: PSY-2131. Review of therapeutic techniques for all forms of addictive behavior. Outside sources are used to supplement class materials. Prerequisite: CJ 3070/PSY 3330. This course is a Criminal Justice elective. 3 credits. Offered as needed.

The nature, prevalence, and causality of juvenile delinquency are studied in this course. The criminal justice system's response to delinquency is also discussed in detail.

The role of the law enforcement officer in the modern urban setting will be studied. Particular attention will be paid to the use of community policing and the operation of law enforcement in a multicultural setting.

This course will explore specific, identified topics in the field of criminal justice. The subject matter will be selected by the instructor prior to registration, with approval of the department chairperson. Students may be granted credit for multiple sections of CJ-4000, providing the topic differs.

Special topics course

The United States has 6% of the worlds population and 25% of the worlds prisoners. One percent of the American population is currently incarcerated or on parole. This matter of great concern has garnered media attention in recent years owing to advances in forensics that have exonerated people falsely accused and convicted of serious felonies, typically murder and rape. This course will examine some of the legal, ethical and sociological implications pertaining to this issue. A variety of provocative questions will be considered. What constitutes a fair trial? What is the role of the plea bargain in sentencing today, and to what extent does the plea bargain circumvent the right to trial by jury? To what extent are confessions coerced? What political and economic factors influence mass imprisonment in America today?

Special topics course

Patterns in Crime is a special topics course that will introduce the student to fundamental techniques and practices used by crime analysts and profilers. The first half of the semester will cover the use of crime reports to discern temporal-spatial patterns in criminal behavior. The second half of the semester will explore the investigative technique commonly known as criminal profiling.

This course provides the students with a comprehensive study of issues pertaining to fire safety and loss control. An examination of current topics and recent professional standards will be conducted. Particular attention will be paid to issues regarding the retrieval and protection of evidence in an arson investigation.

This course provides an examination of the intersection between culture, crime, and social control. We will explore crime in the context of contemporary society defined by mediated images (e.g. film, television, comic books, etc.) and the increasing commodification of violence (e.g. tabloid justice). With a focus on aesthetics, we will explore styles and symbols of culture and assess the criminalization of subcultures (e.g. graffiti writers, biker gangs, youth culture, etc.).

This course will focus on the history and current responses to sex offenses and sex crimes in the U.S. criminal justice, legal, and mental health systems. We will examine issues relating to sex offender treatment and management, as well as recidivism. We will also examine sex offender reform efforts, and examine the history and context of sex panics in U.S. history. Additionally, we will be exploring current initiatives and laws aimed at addressing and curbing sexual violence. In particular, this class will examine the impact of the public sex offender registry, implemented as federal law in the U.S. in 1996, and the enormous body of criminal justice and social science research analyzing the registry that has emerged as a result. The class will involve lectures, discussions, and guest speakers and experts from the fields of law, criminal justice, and psychology. We will also address current debates surrounding responses to sex crimes and sex offenses on American college campuses as well as issues of sexual harassment in the workplace. This course will also be part of the American Studies minor.

The United States is the only constitutional democracy that retains the death penalty as a criminal justice penalty. While there is growing pressure from other democracies and allies to abolish this practice, support for the death penalty remains strong. This course will examine the realities surrounding the implementation of the death penalty in the United States, including growing awareness of wrongful convictions that result from a flawed and imperfect criminal justice system (as of 2017, there have been almost 2000 people exonerations). The course will analyze theories and approaches to death penalty by researchers and scholars, in the fields of both law and social science. We will focus on the history and current manifestation of the death penalty, public attitudes and support, methods of execution, how capital cases are processed in the criminal justice system, the use of DNA evidence and new technology, the impact of race and class on trial and penalty outcomes, and the effectiveness of the death penalty to reduce crime. Each student will complete a comprehensive research project on the death penalty that will include an in-depth case study of a wrongful conviction and exoneration of an individual sentenced to death.

This class offers an overview of the criminological and sociological study of deviance in order to critically assess its relevance in contemporary U.S. society. We will not only learn about a variety of deviance theories, but also examine how they help explain the nature of aberrant behaviors, the actions and labeling of deviants, and the application of social control. Some of these theories will challenge or altogether refute your current framework of thinking. In doing so, you will be asked to consider the complexity of defining deviance, the role that society plays in assigning this designation, and the various systems of social control that have been developed to eliminate deviance.

Course Description: Rapid advancements in technology and the exponential growth in Internet use have spawned a wide array of computer and technology related cybercrimes, deviant and criminal online identities, and new types of social control and enforcement responses. This course provides students with a foundational overview of the technical, social, theoretical, and legal aspects to understanding crime/deviance, victimization, and social control responses in the context of cyberspace. By exploring the threats, technologies, and participants of cybercrime and deviance and the various countermeasures used to combat them, we will attempt to better understand the theories and tools that facilitate scientific exploration of these phenomena, including the social, cultural, and legal issues created and affected by online crime and social control responses.

This class is designed to provide sociological, criminological, and legal analyses of the American justice system as a mechanism for racialized social control. Problems of inequality are as old as the nation itself and inequality has had a long and stubborn life in the American experience. On one hand, ideas of race, class, gender, and orientation are human inventions. When viewed over time, these social constructions become what are referred to as the prevailing order or social structure of a society (e.g., upper, middle, and lower classes). That is, race and class become organized in ways that provide certain groups advantages at the expense of less advantaged groups. By examining both historical and contemporary topics related to race, crime, victimization, and the pursuit of justice, we will see that our evolving society in the United States has made ardent strides over time to promote equality and demonize overt and purposeful acts of discrimination. But how effective have these measures proven for providing protections and promoting true equality (e.g., use of force by law enforcement, racially representative jury trial, etc.) in practice? Does the criminal justice system actually work in a fair and evenhanded way regardless of individuals' race, class, gender, and orientation? Or, do the complex intersections of race (and gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation), crime, and justice really reflect how unconscious biases and more hidden forms of institutional discrimination and structural racism actually help perpetuate a system of racial caste in the United States? This class will explore these challenges in order to better understand why we fall short of achieving a truly equitable justice system.

In this course, students will study the history and current realities of the criminal justice system in Brooklyn, one of the nation's most populous and most densely populated boroughs. Students will have the opportunity to observe court proceedings, hear directly from prosecutors and defense attorneys working in local criminal, civil, and federal courts, and assess the unique challenges faced by legal actors and courts in an economically, racially, and ethnically diverse urban setting. This course will also analyze the criminal justice innovations first implemented in Brooklyn as demonstration projects that have since been implemented throughout the country, including specialized drug, domestic violence, and gun courts. Finally, students will explore the collateral consequences of mass incarceration on communities and families, and gain familiarity with the efforts of local organizers fighting for bail reform, restorative justice programs, and other efforts to increase access to community justice.

The purpose of this class is to provide you with an overview of the phenomenon of serial homicide and critically assess its existence in contemporary U.S. society. The course is designed to demonstrate the complexity in defining serial homicide; the role society plays in assigning this designation; and the factors that influence social and cultural representations of serial murder, criminal offending, and the ways that we define victimization. In addition to reviewing various serial homicide typologies and the nature and etiology of multiple murders, particular focus will be given to role of mass media (both news and entertainment) in socially constructing the phenomenon of serial homicide, including the killers themselves, their victims, and the law enforcement officials who investigate their crimes. By examining portrayals of serial, spree, and mass killings in entertainment and news media, we will explore how and why cultural depictions of mass murder influence our personal understandings of crime, criminality, victimization, and justice system, more broadly, in ways that diverge from objective reality.

This course will explore different subcultures and subcultural theories of crime. We will also conduct in-depth analyses of several distinct criminal subcultures. Finally, this course will consider the various ways in which criminal subcultures emerge, and the extent to which criminal subcultures offer opportunities to those with limited access to legitimate paths to success.

The United States, almost alone among constitutional democracies, retains death as a criminal punishment. This course examines the legal, social, and ethical implications of capital punishment in the United States, with a particular focus on Supreme Court decisions since the early 1970s. During the semester we will critically assess modern executions by identifying the (1) social factors that influence our mold our individual and collective understandings of the death penalty, and (2) the legal and empirical analyses that expose students to capital punishment as a researchable subject. Topical areas will examine the following dimensions of America's death penalty: its history, current status, public support/opposition, judicial tinkering that has narrowed the death penalty's scope, race and capital punishment, and its impact and efficacy. In doing so, we will unpack the moral complexity and ambiguities of deciding who lives and who dies when capital punishment is interpreted (in a practical and constitutional sense) and applied in practice by less than perfect humans.

Students may intern at approved sites under professional supervision. Internships must be approved by the department chairman and are subject to availability.

This course is available only to those student who are participating in the New York Police Department Police Cadet Program. This internship must be approved by the department Chairperson.

This course allows the student to engage in a semester-long, detailed examination of a criminal justice topic. The course may be taken only with the permission of the instructor and the department chairperson prior to registration.

A culminating seminar for senior criminal justice majors only. This course will integrate concepts, knowledge and practices the student has acquired during the course of their studies in criminal justice. The student will produce a paper of scholarly status on a selected topic of criminal justice research. The course satisfies the College's requirement for a comprehensive examination or project.

This course provides an examination of the intersection between culture, crime, and social control. We will explore crime in the context of contemporary society defined by mediated images (e.g. news, film, television, comic books, video games, etc.) and the increasing commodification of violence (e.g. tabloid justice, crime-based reality shows). With a focus on aesthetics, we will explore styles and symbols of culture and assess the criminalization of subcultures (e.g. graffiti writers, critical mass, youth culture, etc.).