Criminal Justice (Online MS) Course List

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Major Courses Required – all courses 3 credits – 33 Credits required for MS Degree

Core – 12 Credits Required

CJUS 500-Research Methods

This course focuses on the development of research methods in criminal justice and criminological research. Students will investigate key issues, concepts, and topics related to research methods including ethical practice, hypothesis development, research design, data collection, analysis, and the connection between policy and research. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be explored.

CJUS 510-Seminar in Criminology

This course is a seminar in theories of crime and deviance. The course focuses on the development of criminological theory in a historical context. Early explanations of deviance will be analyzed and discussed in their application to modern society, and contemporary theories of crime will be discussed in relation to earlier theories of deviant behavior and current research. The focus of this course is understanding how and why crime may occur, using researched-based theory to recognize the motivations and experiences that lead to deviance.

CJUS 680-Criminal Justice Thesis I

This course will serve as the first stage toward the completion of a written master’s thesis. The main focus of this course is the conceptualization, and design, of a master’s thesis project. This course will guide students through the process of selecting a suitable research topic, developing a literature review, writing research hypotheses, designing an appropriate methodology, and addressing ethical issues, with the goal of completing the project in CJUS 690, CJ Thesis II.

CJUS 690-Criminal Justice Thesis II

This course will serve as the second step toward the completion of a written master’s thesis. The focus is on completing the research and analysis of the thesis project. Students will carry out their research/data collection, conduct a complete analysis with reporting of result, interpret their findings through a theoretical framework, and critically assess their work. This is also an opportunity to compare notes,techniques and share progress towards completion of the master’s thesis.

The Administration of Justice Electives – 9 Credits Required 

CJUS 530-Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice

In this course, students will review ethical decision-making: values, morals, and moral reasoning. Ethics will be examined starting with the individual and expanding to the organization as a whole. Finally, race, socioeconomics, and their relationship to the criminal justice system will be analyzed to explain the disparity between how the criminal justice system treats different individuals, and how ethical decisions play a role in that disparity.

CJUS 540-Corrections

This course examines the institutional correctional system in the United States. The focus of the course is to examine the development and use of jails and prisons from early colonial jails to modern prison construction, and discuss how jails and prisons contribute to mass incarceration. The enormous variability in jail and prison experiences for individuals incarcerated and individuals employed by correctional institutions will be highlighted and examined.

CJUS 550- The Criminal Court System

This course will critically review and analyze the criminal court system in the United States. Court structure, control of the courts, constitutional principles, courtroom procedure, and the roles of judges, attorneys, defendants and victims will be reviewed. Controversial issues involving the criminal court system will be discussed along with potential ideas and solutions to solving problems in the court system.

CJUS 610-Effective Policing Methods

This course will examine the methods and/or styles of policing in America today. A historical view of methods of policing will be explored including the origins of CompStat and implications on policing throughout the United States. This course will also examine the process of measuring effectiveness and success in policing by examining some of the famous policing “experiments” and studies to examine what questions were asked, what answers were derived and if the methodology was valid.

CJUS 620-Police Organization and Leadership

The course examines how police leaders earn legitimacy in the eyes of the public in order to achieve a social contract with communities and encourage law abiding behavior. Particular attention is given to the complexity of how police leaders achieve this goal in a diverse community with histories of racial and ethnic conflict. Students will analyze the role police administrators’ play in dealing with the issue of stress, its effect on officer well-being and the delivery of critical services to the community. Crime and deterioration in certain communities in the United States will be closely examined from a police leadership perspective with an emphasis on causes and cures.

Electives – 12 Credits Required

CJUS 520-Quantitative Analysis

This course explores concepts of quantitative research and statistics and their application in the field of criminal justice. Core statistical calculations will be performed both by hand and by using statistical software. Research questions will be examined by appropriately selecting statistical tests, performing statistical calculations, interpreting results, and drawing reasonable conclusions.

CJUS 560- Juvenile Justice

This course will explore the development, methods and philosophy of the juvenile justice system. Special attention will be given to the impact of a diverse society on how juveniles are treated in the system, and police, court and community involvement will be discussed. The course will examine controversies and problematic issues with emphasis on the development of new ideas and the improvement of existing programming for juveniles in the justice system.

CJUS 570- Wrongful Convictions

This course will explore the situations that have caused wrongful convictions and look at remedies and procedures put in practice to prevent such injustices from occurring. This course studies the topics of eyewitness identification, false confessions, flawed forensic science, and photo arrays and lineups as a means for identification. Additionally, police methods, the use of informants, and prosecutorial and judicial misconduct are studied.

CJUS 580-Homeland Security

This course is designed to provide the student with a broad-based study of terrorism from its earliest forms to present post 9-11 issues. The course will include the complexities of dealing with issues of terrorism, minimizing terrorism, and terrorism potentials. Special considerations of accomplishing missions and protecting individual civil rights are problematic and incorporated into the study of this topic. Special attention will be paid to Homeland Security in the United States from the national to the local police level.

CJUS 590-Community Corrections

Community Corrections provides the study of prevalent issues in institutional and community-based corrections with emphasis on the history and purpose of punishment and imprisonment, prison life, correctional policies and offender rights, offender programming and treatment, and reentry into the community. An analysis of current research and its applicability to the current criminal justice system and society will be performed.

CJUS 600-Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation

This course explores the discipline of program evaluation and policy analysis via the examination of theories, research methods, evaluation models and the application of these elements to real world issues. A major focus of this course is the development of evaluation strategies for existing criminal justice programs. This exploration will help students to understand, and participate in, widespread evidence-based practices and programs currently used in the criminal justice field.

CJUS 630-Crime Victim Studies

This course explores an in-depth perspective of victimology, victim services, and victim advocacy, and assesses the impact on victimization through victimological theories, available data, and the trauma and recovery process. An overview of victim prevention programs and victim assistance programs will be presented. This course further includes effective responses to specific crime victims, including victims of family violence, sexual assault, and cyber-crime. Challenges of victim assistance and multicultural competency issues are also covered.

CJUS 640-Mental Health in the Criminal Justice System

This course explores the intersection between mental health and the criminal justice system in the United States, examining current debates surrounding outcomes for people interacting with the criminal justice system, who are classified as exhibiting mental illness. This course will review the unique issues and best practices for each component of the criminal justice system – law enforcement, courts and jails/prisons. The latter part of the course will identify different types of treatment which include community based, family support, and peer networks.

CJUS 650-Forensic Investigations

This course will explore specific forensic investigation techniques that have influenced the manner in which criminal investigations are conducted in the United States. The Forensic Science field has grown since the 1970s to include the disciplines of Forensic DNA, Forensic Odontology, Forensic Pathology, Forensic Entomology, Forensic Profiling, Forensic Engineering and Forensic Digital Evidence. Forensic Investigations also encompasses the success and failures of these investigative methods.

CJUS 660-Capital Punishment Around the World

This course will explore capital punishment in the United States and abroad. Topics will include relevant Supreme Court case law on sentencing, mental illness, and wrongful convictions. On a global level, methods of execution and application of capital punishment to political crimes, terrorism, and drug trafficking will be explored. The latter part of the course will consider the role of international institutions, such as the United Nations, European Union, Catholic Church, and human rights organizations in the death penalty debate.

CJUS 670-Special Topics

This course will focus on a special topic of interest in the area of criminal justice chosen by the instructor. A detailed analysis of the topic will be presented in this course.