Criminology and Criminal Justice Course Descriptions

CRJ 800 Advanced Criminal Justice Studies.  (3) A. 
An orientation to our field of study as well as an examination of the criminal justice and crime control apparatus. Includes a review of the assumptions, theories, research, and normative orientations that underlie and drive criminal justice thinking and practice.

CRJ 801 History of Criminal Justice.  (3) A.  
An examination of the historical development of the criminal justice system.

CRJ 802 Violence Against Women (3) A. 
This course provides students with a human right framework and cross-cultural understanding of violence against women, and efforts across societies to translate international knowledge into local justice for gender-based violence and female victims.

CRJ 808 Analysis of Criminal Justice Data.  (3) A. 
An examination of statistics and analysis in criminal justice research.  Addresses epistemological presuppositions, statistical assumptions, results, and use of results for decision making.

CRJ 814 Policing and Society.  (3) A. 
Theoretical, historical and comparative perspectives on policing. Critical analysis of the function of police in modern society. 

CRJ 815 Policing Global Insecurity.  (3) A. 
Examines “global security threats” (e.g. terrorism, transnational crime, ethnic cleansing) and the State and private sector’s role in their construction and control.  Late-modern social, political, and cultural movements are used to make theoretical sense of these phenomena.

CRJ 821 Class, Race, Gender, and Justice. (3) A. 
Course will examine issues of justice related to race, gender, class and intersections inherent between multiple identities. Significant attention to marginalized populations/ disparate outcomes within particular institutions. 

CRJ 823 Social Justice and Music. (3) I, II. 
This course analyzes how American society and justice are reflected in popular music and its performance. The course examines connections between music, culture, history and society. A knowledge of music is not a pre-requisite.

CRJ 829 Juvenile Justice (3) A. 
This course presents a critical analysis of juvenile justice operations with particular emphasis placed on history and the role and effectiveness of police, court, and correctional responses to juvenile offenders.

CRJ 840 Punishment and Society.  (3) I. 
Beginning with the enlightenment and classical philosophers, students will examine historical and current trends in punishment and social control theory and practice. Addresses social control and punishment in late-modernity.

CRJ 862 Race, Identity & Policing. (3) A. 
Examines why racial injustices exist in criminal justice and policing, using historical and contemporary studies of connections between race, poverty, and the criminal justice system/policing.

CRJ 870 Theories of Crime and Criminal Justice.  (3) A. 
Examines the major theoretical perspectives in modern criminology and criminal justice, including classical statements and contemporary developments. Provides an exploration of theoretical arguments, underlying assumptions, philosophy of science commitments, and the socio-historical context in which the theories were developed.

CRJ 871 Crime, Victims, and Criminals.  (3) A.  
Examines the relationship between social inequality, crime, criminals and victims. Addresses the use of power in the construction of crime and the creation of law, as well as differential treatment by gender, race, ethnicity and class.

CRJ 872 The Community Context of Crime.  (3) A.  
Examines crime and synthesizes the body of theory and research examining community level effects on crime/crime control. 

CRJ 873 Social Construction of Crime and Crime Control.  (3) A. 
Examines the social construction of crime including consideration of the process by which crime problems are generated.

CRJ 874 Crime, Criminal Justice and Popular Culture.  (3) A.  
Examines the interrelatedness of consumption, production, crime and popular culture. Examination of the social and symbolic construction of crime will be included through analysis of film, literature, music, and academic literature.

CRJ 875 Crime and Public Policy.  (3) A. 
Provides an overview of factors shaping crime policy.  The concept of crime, the use of law to promote social control policies, policy responses related to crime control and the efficacy of those policies will be examined. Addresses conceptualizations of the modern state and the use of state power.

CRJ 876 Organizational Crime.  (3) A. 
This course explores empirical research, theories, and concepts related to crime committed within organizational contexts. Particular attention is paid to forms of syndicated crime, corporate crime, governmental corruption, and state crime.

CRJ 878 Ideology and Criminal Justice.  (3) A. 
An assessment of the interrelatedness of crime and ideology. Includes an examination of the ideological construction of crime and crime control.

CRJ 879 Vice and Criminal Justice.  (3) A.  
A historical, analytic overview of America’s response to vice. Particular topics will be chosen from the major vices in American society:  prostitution, gambling, drugs and alcohol, as they relate to this country’s relationship between morality and the criminal law.

CRJ 888 Research Methods in Criminal Justice.  (3) A. 
Prerequisites:  undergraduate research methods and undergraduate statistics. Study of the philosophical foundations, design, and processes of criminal justice and criminological research:  critical critique of current research issues in criminal justice.

CRJ 889 Qualitative Research Methods.  (3) A.  
A survey of qualitative research strategies and their epistemological presuppositions.

CRJ 890 Topical Seminar in Criminal Justice.  (1-3) A. 
May be retaken to a maximum of nine hours on different topics.

CRJ 897 Independent Study in Criminal Justice.  (1-6) A. 
Student must have the independent study proposal form approved by faculty supervisor, department chair, and the criminal justice graduate program coordinator in the College of Justice and Safety prior to enrollment. Individual investigations in criminal justice. Under the supervision of a faculty advisor.  May be retaken up to a maximum of nine hours.

CRJ 898 Thesis I.  (3) A. 
This course orients students toward the production of a proposal suitable for a thesis. 

CRJ 899 Thesis II.  (3) A.  
Entails an oral presentation and defense of thesis.