01:202:497 Special Topics
Description: Focuses on critical issues in criminal justice. May encompass topics related to law, law enforcement, the courts, corrections, etc. Specific issues are determined by the instructor.
 
Prerequisites: 01:202:201
Course Synopsis:

Professor WELCH, Section 01, Crime in Film:  Scholarly interest in criminal justice and criminology has taken a cultural turn over the past several decades, producing an array of innovative approaches, viewpoints, and sites of analysis. Among them is film. Indeed, images and messages infused in cinema have given moviegoers a rich vocabulary about lawbreaking and punishment. So much so that crime discourse often enters into a realm of imagination that transcends the empirical world. The course maps out significant ways in which crime is depicted in film and how it shapes our perceptions and emotions. In keeping with a cultural sociology of crime, lectures, discussion and writing assignments are geared toward critique and theoretical interpretation.

Professor TRIGG, Section 02, Law Enforcement & the Community: Gangs, Drugs, Violence, & Technology: This course will look at the relationship between police officers and the communities they serve with an emphasis on ethical standards, human relations, civil rights and community service.  There will be a focus on how gangs, drugs, violence and technology have changed policing in our communities.  This course will also concentrate on how the attitudes and actions of the police and the public help to define and build relationships.

Professor SHERIDAN, Section 80, Criminological Controversies Past & Present: Criminological controversies are widespread, at times pervasive, and often confusing because of input from criminologists (the theoretical perspectives and empirical and qualitative), criminological practitioners (which includes law enforcement and corrections to dispute the operational necessities), politicians, and the media (who generally promote the most extreme, extraordinary and the unusual without recognizing the presence of the ordinary and common.  Defining crime is no longer the province of legal wrangling, but includes input from the sources named above to also attempt to determine the nature of crime and its prevention. Among the questions this course seeks to address is the “what”, “Why”, “How”, and the “consequences” of what becomes criminalized and its impact on society.  The challenge for this course is to understand the effort to control deviant/criminal behavior, and the effort to delineate what is fair and whether the moral high ground is attained.

 
Current Syllabus:

Spring 2018 WELCH
Spring 2018 TRIGG
Spring 2018 SHERIDAN (Brookdale)

Previous Syllabi: Fall 2017 MUNI (Brookdale)
Fall 2017 MUNI (Mercer)
Spring 2017 WELCH
Spring 2017 PIEHL
Spring 2017 ZGOBA
Fall 2016 SZEJNER

Fall 2016 ZGOBA
Spring 2016 WELCH

Spring 2016 PIEHL
Fall 2015 SZEJNER

Fall 2015 TRIGG
Summer 2015 MUNI
Spring 2015 WELCH

Fall 2014 SZEJNER
Fall 2014 TRIGG