Course Descriptions
Scroll down to read descriptions of the criminal justice courses offered at Carthage, or click on these links for additional resources:
CRJ 1000
Criminal Justice System (SOC)
4cr
A survey of the various institutions by which the criminal justice system is administered: the police, the legal profession, the court systems, and the penal institutions. The problems faced by the criminal justice system and evaluation of the adequacy of the existing system will be given emphasis.
Fall/Spring
CRJ 2100
Probation, Parole, and Community Supervision
4cr
This course provides a detailed examination of alternative forms of punishment within the criminal justice system, namely probation, parole, and community supervision. Given the enormous strain on the prison system, these forms of punishment have become increasingly common in recent years. This course examines the nature of such programs within the larger socio-historical context.
CRJ 2260
Criminology
4cr
This course examines the nature, extent, and distribution of crime in the United States. Theories of crime causation are also examined in this course.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000
Fall/Spring
CRJ 2270
Juvenile Delinquency
4cr
Studies causes of unconventional youthful behavior, societal reactions to it, specialized agencies, treatment strategies, policy proposals for prevention of juvenile delinquency, and the juvenile justice system with its competing functions and personnel. Prerequisite: SOC 1000
Fall
CRJ 2530
Race and Racisms
4cr
Examines the sociological, economic, and psychological nature of the relationships between racial and ethnic groups with differential access to political and economic power. Focus is on the United States, with some discussion of racism, cultural discrimination, and sexism in other parts of the world.
Prerequisite: SOC 1000 or CRJ 1000
Fall/Spring
CRJ 2700
Criminal Law (SOC)
4cr
The organization and content of criminal law with attention given to its origin and development and the elements of crimes of various types. Specific attention will be given the Model Penal Code.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000
Fall
CRJ 3010
Police and Society
4cr
This course will rely on a variety of scholarly materials to answer such questions as: Why do we have police? What is the role of the police in a democratic society? What do we want the police to do? Who decides what the police do? How do we want the police to do their job? The course will also address other key issues including (1) the history of the American police, (2) the nature of police work, (3) the police as agents of social control, (4) the structure and function of police organizations, (5) police misconduct, and (6) police accountability.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000
Spring
CRJ 3020
American Courts
4cr
This course examines the history and structure of the American court system. Understood as one of the primary institutions within the criminal justice system, emphasis will be placed on exploring the values, traditions, and philosophy of the courts.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000
Fall
CRJ 3025
Social Problems in the City
4cr
This course presumes social problems in the city as products of oppression, marginalization, and social control. Students will learn how economic forces and social structures such as race, class, and government policies influence how cities are socially and spatially organized, and how that has changed over time. Students cover topics like the Great Migration, systemic racism, policing, inequality, poverty, segregation, and joblessness. We will also discuss the interrelations between different social issues and the prospects for social change.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000 or instructor permission
CRJ 3030
Social Impacts of Mass Incarceration
4cr
This course presents the historical patterns of response to crime and modern methods of dealing with criminally defined behavior, including the major reactive models. Also examined are treatment approaches in corrections, corrections personnel, and corrections as an institutional system.
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000
Fall
CRJ 3035
Wrongful Convictions
4cr
This course is intended to help students understand relevant research on the causes and effects of wrongful convictions. The course draws upon research across several academic disciplines like sociology, psychological sciences, legal studies, and criminology in order to understand wrongful convictions as social processes that occur at different levels of social reality (i.e. individual to systemic), and several points within criminal justice systems (from law-making to conviction).
Prerequisite: CRJ 1000 or instructor permission
CRJ 3110
Deviance
4cr
This course examines deviance as a sociological concept. Students will gain a theoretical understanding of the ways in which deviance has been defined historically, as well as contemporary definitions. Societal reactions, ranging from informal social control to formal control, are also examined.
Prerequisite: SOC 1000 or CRJ 1000
CRJ 3120
Crimes of the Powerful
4cr
This course explores the social and institutional contexts of various forms of corporate and governmental deviance and/or crime. A range of cases that constitute elite deviance and/or criminal activity will be examined (e.g., insider trading, political corruption, corporate harm caused to consumers and the environment). Each case will be discussed within its larger political, social, and historical context.
Prerequisite: SOC 1000 or CRJ 1000
CRJ 3200
Restorative Justice
4cr
This course examines alternative approaches to the traditional corrections-based and/or punitive models of the criminal justice system. Topics covered in this course include victim-offender mediation programs. The theoretical basis of restorative justice is contrasted to retributive models of justice.
CRJ 3300
Mock Trial
4cr
Students who participate in this course will become members of the Carthage Mock Trial Team and will represent Carthage in the annual American Mock Trial Association Tournament. In this course, students will study all aspects of trial court procedure and the litigation process. Students will develop an understanding of how both criminal and civil trials work and will learn about the various roles played by the participants in the trial court process. Students will act as witnesses, prosecutors, and plaintiff and defense attorneys. Students will also work on and develop important skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, negotiation, communication, debating, and team building.
CRJ 3500
Field Placement
2-8cr
A field placement enables the student to explore a possible career, and to work in an individual, academically oriented position designed to supplement or complement the student’s academic experience. All field placements require faculty supervision and regular meetings between the student and the instructor.
CRJ 3550
Internship
1-12cr
An internship enables the student to gain practical experience in his or her field of study. All internships require faculty supervision and regular meetings between the student and the instructor. Further credit will be given for internships in subsequent terms in the same placement so long as the supervising faculty member is satisfied that the student is acquiring new or enhancing existing skills and knowledge base. All internships must be arranged through The Aspire Center.
CRJ 4990
Senior Seminar
4cr
The capstone experience for all majors in the department, the primary emphasis of this course will be writing the Senior Thesis. An oral presentation of the thesis is required for this course.
Prerequisites: Senior standing and CRJ 2260
Fall/Spring
POL 1910
Law and Society
4cr
Law and Society introduces how disputes are authoritatively resolved and how the mechanisms for resolving disputes actually work. Students will examine legal institutions (the bar, courts, prisons, interest groups), rules (bills of rights, criminal procedure, contract law), and participants (parties, judges, prosecutors, police, attorneys) and ask when, why, and how they come into play. The course will also investigate the potential for bias in law and the uses of law as a tool for political and social change.
POL 2400
American Government: National, State, and Local
4cr
This course involves a study of the institutions of American government at the national, state, and local levels and is designed to serve students seeking teacher certification. It will stress the informal as well as the formal dimensions of government and will, and thereby attempt to broaden and deepen insight into the processes of policy-making and implementation.
Fall/Spring
POL 2900
Constitutional Law and the Separation of Powers
4cr
An examination of the U.S. Supreme Court and its interpretation of the U.S. Constitution over time on such topics as judicial review, executive and legislative branch powers, federalism and the role of states, and political and economic regulation.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
POL 2910
Constitutional Law: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
4cr
An examination of the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution over time on such topics as freedom of expression and religion, criminal and civil due process, privacy, equal protection, and the nationalization of the Bill of Rights.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing
POL 4000
Senior Seminar in Political Science
4cr
This course serves as the capstone to a student’s political science studies. The Senior Seminar will help students to organize the analytical frameworks, perspectives, and theories they have learned throughout their political science career into a coherent structure in the form of a Senior Thesis. Students are required to present their Senior Thesis as part of the course.
Prerequisites: Senior standing and POL 3100 or instructor approval
Fall