JUST101: Criminology

Definitions of crime, the major theories of crime, the nature and extent of criminal behavior. Analysis of different types of crime, including juvenile delinquency, corporate crime, crimes against women, and crimes by police. Institutions of social control: police, courts, prisons. Meets the 1983 General Education Requirement (GER) - Social Science Topic Course. Meets Gen Ed 2002 - Social Science. 3 sh.

JUST102: Introduction to Criminal Justice

Do the three main sectors of the criminal justice system - the police, the courts, and corrections - have an impact on crime, achieve justice, and constitute a system? This course will look at the historical development of each of these sectors, their relation to broader social forces, and their internal problems and dilemmas. Topics may include current controversies (police brutality, the death penalty and other sentencing trends, community policing, plea bargaining, parole) as well as the impact of broader issues like race, gender and social class. 3 sh.

JUST230: Family Violence

This course will take a life-course approach in examining the complex issues of family violence. It will utilize a multidisciplinary framework in analyzing the dynamics of abuse. Students will discuss the various forms of violence as well as the prevalence and incidence of violence in different stages of the lifespan. The relationship between child abuse, sibling abuse, partner abuse and elder abuse will be examined. Students will also explore family violence from a cultural perspective. They will review current social policy as it relates to the protection and treatment of the victims of family violence. 3 sh.

JUST250: Current Issues in Policing

The course will examine current issues in policing from an interdisciplinary perspective. Subjects include racial and ethnic profiling, policing a multi-cultural society, police use of force, police corruption, policing domestic violence, policing emotionally disturbed people, police management of terrorist threat, hostage negotiation, policing disasters (SWAT/Emergency Service - first responders) and relevant dimensions of police psychology. 3 sh.

JUST313: Organized Crime

Organized crime as a social phenomenon. The methods and goals of large-scale crime and its economic, political, and social costs; popular attitudes towards organized crime; efforts of enforcement and investigation agencies to deal wiht the problem. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.

JUST314: Environmental Justice

The domain of this course is the role of social inequities, especially those of class and race, in the distribution of environmental risks in societies at the local, national, and global levels and includes study of legal remedies and public policy measures that address environmental injustices. Cross listed with Sociology, SOCI 314. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 100 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST317: Race and the U.S. Legal System

The course will examine the use of the law both to perpetuate and eradicate racial injustice in the United States from the inception and rise of slavery during the colonial period through the racial desegregation decision on the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 to the present. The goals of the course are to achieve an understanding of the role of law in its social context, especially with regard to the use of legal institutions, and law in the creation and maintenance of systems of racial injustice and to examine the use of law (especially litigation) as a mechanism for social change. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST318: Animals and Justice

The course will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between human and nonhuman animals from a multidisciplinary perspective including the ecological, environmental, cultural, economic, social, psychological, and health dimensions of these relationships. The course will situate nonhuman animals into a larger conception of social justice. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST319: Hate Crimes

The course examines issues relating to how and why people hate; what constitutes a hate crime; whether and how society should legislate against hate crime; and how tolerance can be promoted in an ever-diverse and complex world. Course topics may include a historical perspective on hate; psychological and sociological theories as to why people hate hate; hate crime laws; enforcement issues relating to hate crime laws; constitutional challenges to hate laws; international hate crime; and new frontiers in hate and hate crime. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST320: Women and Prison

This course will take a comprehensive view of the issues that bring women in contact with the criminal justice system and correctional institutions. Students will discuss the historical legacy of female incarceration in Europe and America. They will discover that the demographic intersections of gender, race, class and gender orientation play a major role in sentencing outcomes. Gender responsive programming as well as role model programs in the US, Canada and Europe will be discussed. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST321: White Collar Crime

An examination of the nature, scope, forms, and styles of occupational and business-related criminal activities in the U.S., as well as their social, political, and economic implications. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmenatl approval.

JUST322: Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice

This course will deal with major theories regarding the causes of juvenile delinquency. The relationship between juvenile crime and justice and the socio-economic and institutional arrangements of the larger society will be the primary focus. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST325: Police and Society

This course will examine urban police organizations from diverse theoretical perspectives. Subjects include media images of the police, police discretion, police use of force, police corruption, women in policing, ethnic minorities in policing, and researching the police. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST326: Death Penalty Perspectives

This course examines the specific legal issues inherent in capital punishment. Included will be detailed coverage of both substantive and procedural law of capital punishment as well as the roles of lawyers, judges, and juries within this legal system. This course also will focus upon empirical analyses of death penalty applications and will carefully explore its practical and philosophical underpinnings. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST327: Comparative Criminal Justice Systems

The goal of this course is to provide a cross-national survey of crime and criminal justice. Emphasis will be on crime rates, forms of criminality, police, courts, and corrections. Descriptive material on how select countries administer criminal justice will be analyzed and compared. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 200 or JUST 201.

JUST328: Prisons and Punishment

The course will focus on Prisons and Punishment in American society. The prison is the symbol of punishment in western society. Apart from the general and historical claims made on punishment, we will be concerned with the policy implications of the existence of prisons. We will discuss the purposes of prison, whether or not they rehabilitate, and explore the issue of alternatives to incerceration. This course will emphasize classical and contemporary sociological and historical texts, case law, inmate memoirs, and fictional accounts of prison life. As we learn to connect crime to social cohesion, cultural diversity, labor issues, and racial, ethnic and gender differences, we will discover and sample various perspectives on punishment. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.

JUST329: Homeland Security

This course examines the criminal justice roles, responsibilities and jurisdictions associated with homeland security. It will focus on the analysis of terrorism, as well as threats and challenges facing criminal justice agencies. Emphasis will be placed on the constitutional, organizational, and competency issues needed to meet criminal justice goals. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JSUT 102 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.

JUST351: Juries and Justice

An examination of the roots of the American jury system and the role of trials in the social construction of morality. Consideration of issues related to jury pools, selection, and representativeness. Examination of data from research on group processes within actual and mock juries, including communication and decision making in juries and juror bias. Students will conduct field studies in local courts. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST353: Corrections

Traces the historical development of corrections in the United States and examines present trends. Explores the sociopolitical nature of various correctional policies, with special emphasis on current trends and controversies. Analyzes prison life from the perspectives of administrators, corrections officers, and inmates. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST360: Rights, Liberties and American Justice

An integrated approach to the study of individual rights, liberties, and American justice. The development of constitutional law in its social, political, and cultural contexts. The growth of the legal tradition and recent developments in relation to statutory law in shaping the principles of American liberty. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST400: Drugs and Society

The course will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between drugs and disparate treatment by race, class and gender from a multidisciplinary perspective. The course will situate drugs into a larger conception of social justice and will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between drugs and the larger structural elements of society. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or JUST 232 or departmental approval.

JUST402: Sex Crimes

The course will familiarize studnets with an understanding of sexual offending and offenders from a multidisciplinary perspective. The course will situate this type of crime and offender within a larger conception of social justice and will familiarize students with scholarship on the relationships between sex crimes and the larger structural elements of society. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.

PALG301: Criminal Law and Procedure

Legal concepts of criminal law and their application to criminal procedure. Contrast between civil law and criminal law. Study of crimes against persons, property and the public. Searches and seizure, arrest and interrogation. Students may take PALG 301 or POLS 321 but not both courses as part of the Paralegal minor, the Political Science major or the Criminal Justice minor. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: PALG 210 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.

PALG317: Evidence

An examination of the basic principles and rules governing trial advocacy in federal and state (NJ) cases. Areas to be examined include: the hearsay rule and its exceptions, examination of witnesses (lay and expert), impeachment, privileges, real and demonstrative evidence, inference, judicial notice and presumptions. 3 sh.

Prerequisites: PALG 210 or JUST 200 or JUST 201 or departmental approval.