Focus:

A 13 year-old was accused of rape.  The victim could not identify him physically, but thought his voice sounded familiar (six months after the attack).  He got a one-day trial with a useless court-appointed lawyer who subsequently had his license revoked.  He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.  The 13 year-old was black. Florida justice.

In Texas, 2007, officials admitted that the Houston PD crime lab had being doing shoddy blood analysis and agreed to re-open 180 cases.  Of the 180 cases, 160 inmates were still in prison. Of the remaining 20 cases, half had been executed on the basis partly of "scientific" evidence.

Meantime, elsewhere in the state, an investigation into sexual abuse and mismanagement at the Texas Youth Commission led to the dismissal of dozens of employees.

Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over.  More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance.  Would you want to be a defendant awaiting trial being fed on $1.75 a day?

November 2008, public defenders’ offices in at least seven states refuse to take on new cases or sue to limit them, citing overwhelming workloads that they say undermine the constitutional right to counsel for the poor.  The system of indigent defense is broken in Kentucky, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland and Arizona.

And all is well with the world of criminal justice?

We get to discuss all sorts of fun issues in this course.  Forget the fairly stuffy name for CCJS 331 -- it's more interesting than "Legal Policy Issues" suggests.
 

Objectives:

By the end of the course, students are intended to have a clearer idea of the proper limitations on the use of the criminal justice system to deal with social issues, and of the problems involved in the regulation of individual behavior in an open and democratic society.

More specifically, students should be able to

• demonstrate familiarity with  the issues discussed in the course;
• explain the arguments for and against the various propositions put forward during the course;
• discuss the importance of the Bill of Rights in contemporary America; and
• illustrate that importance with examples drawn from course materials and discussions.

Text:  Criminal Justice in America, 3rd / Hancock & Sharp
 

20% of the total mark will be determined by your participation in class discussion and participation. I will be assigning exercises that require your participation.

20% (10% each for two essay questions) mid-term exam.  These will be essays that intend to assess how well you have digested and understood course content.  Open book.  Open Notes.

20% on a term paper that reports your findings on a particular, approved topic concerning the current status of law relevant to your topic, and the social and political forces that have brought about and that are acting upon the topic. The point of the term paper is to (a) permit you the opportunity to earn credit from any pet topic that you may interested in pursuing, and (b) to provide you with the opportunity to marshal arguments and organize material into a clear, concise, documented, formal report on a topic of your choice.

40% of your mark will be determined by a proctored final exam.

A NOTE:Academic dishonesty and plagiarism are not acceptable and will mean a grade of F (Failure). Academic dishonesty means (but is not limited to) getting someone else to prepare work for you, or helping another person with their assigned and examinable work. Plagiarism means passing off someone else's work as your own. You can avoid this by giving credit where credit is due -- record the sources of your work, learn how to quote properly, and cite the books, articles or web pages you have used for your information. It may sound like simple manners, but failure to live by the rules has serious academic consequences.  If you wish to avoid it, try this tutorial designed by the University.  It will take you about 30 minutes, but it will also help to keep you out of trouble:

http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/ewp_writingcenter/modules/plagiarism/start.html

Also, from the UMUC Catalog:

Students should understand that the quality of their writing will affect their grade point average.... Acceptable college-level writing expresses thoughts in a logical, well-organized form, using proper grammar and complete sentences, and correct punctuation and spelling.

GRADES

A - 90 - 100 Outstanding Scholarship
B - 80 - 89 Excellent Work
C - 65 - 79 Good Achievement
D - 50 - 64 Marginal or unsatisfactory Performance
F(a) Academic Failure
F(n) Failure for Non-Attendance
W - Withdrawal

 PARTICIPATION

Also, be forewarned: keeping up with participation is more work than you might think, and especially as the semester wears on and your other in- and out-of-course responsibilities add up, the work involved in participating may seem overwhelming. However, keep the 20% of your grade in mind. (Simply listening to the conversations does not count as participation. You must write to get credit.)

For a more detailed explanation of what I expect in the way of participation, CLICK HERE