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Course Descriptions
Criminal Justice
MCJ 6600
Theories of Crime and Deviance
3 credits
The course is designed to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of the major criminological perspectives and will focus upon principles and theories of crime causation, their historical development and contemporary interpretations.
MCJ 6620
The Criminal Justice System: Policy and Process in Law Enforcement, Courts, Corrections and the Juvenile Justice System
3 credits
The course presents a comprehensive overview of the Criminal Justice System in the United States. It will address issues, procedures and problems characteristically associated with the practicalities of law enforcement, the judiciary, corrections and juvenile justice. The course will cover the philosophy and politics of policing; sentencing policies; contemporary issues in probation and parole; current debates in corrections associated with reform and alternative forms of punishment; and unique issues confronting the juvenile justice system.
MCJ 6621
Law and Social Control in the Criminal Justice System
3 credits
This course will examine the social control functions of the law and will focus upon specific issues of criminal law, juvenile justice, criminal procedure, constitutional protections and ethics. The course will evaluate the complex and diverse interests that compete between subsystems of the Criminal Justice System when issues of social control are implemented. The case study method will be used to familiarize students with the legal research skills necessary to effectively understand other criminal justice issues in proper context.
MCJ 6630
Social Research I: Qualitative Methods and Data Collection
3 credits
This course is designed to give graduate students an introduction to the techniques of qualitative data collection and analysis. Topics considered in the course include the core concepts of qualitative traditions in sociology; perspectives on reliability and validity in qualitative research; and ethical issues involved in social research. Four general types of qualitative data collection, strategies are reviewed; observation, interviewing, the collection of archival records and documents, and conducting surveys. Various approaches to the analysis and presentation of qualitative data are covered including grounded theory techniques and case studies.
MCJ 6631
Social Research II: Research and Statistics
3 credits
The course emphasizes an understanding of statistical concepts and learning to use statistics to address real world problems in criminal justice. Statistical theory of inference and sampling designs will be covered. Focus will be directed toward the critical analysis of data with the objective of drawing meaningful conclusions from such analysis.