Criminology Program

CRIM 1301 Section 001

Introduction to Criminal Justice
Course Syllabus
Spring Semester 2011
TR 11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Room: FO 3.616
Syllabus revision date: 10/29/10

Professor Contact Information: Dr. O. Elmer Polk, Green Hall, Office #3.406. elmer.polk@utdallas.edu, telephone
972-883-2983. Students are strongly encouraged to use email as the primary method of communication. Your professor
checks email several times per day and you can normally expect a response within 24 hours or sooner.

Office Hours: Students may feel free to contact the professor at any time before or after each class meeting, during
posted office hours, at the above email address, or at any other time mutually available to both the student and the
professor. Hours posted for Spring Semester 2011 are Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:45 – 9:45 am.

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Your teaching assistant for this class is Mr. Ivan Birch. Please feel free to contact him at
igb100020@utdallas.edu, or in person at the TA Office at GR 2.512.

Pre\Co-requisite: None.

Technical Support: If you experience difficulties with your UTD account you may send an email to assist@utdallas.edu
or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at 972-883-2911.

I. Course Description: A survey course of the agencies and processes involved in the criminal justice system. Emphasis
is on concepts, vocabulary, persons, events, sources of information on criminal justice, and the evolution of behavioral
control mechanisms and systems. Criminal justice, its history and emerging role in contemporary society, including the
balancing of the rights of the individual and the rights of the public in a democratic society are discussed. The course
explores existing criminal justice processes and the emerging practices in policing, courts, corrections, community
corrections, and the juvenile system.

II. Learning Outcomes:

A. The student will become familiar with the jargon and concepts of criminal justice.
B. Students will understand the processes and inter-agency cooperation and/or lack thereof in the
justice system.
C. The history and evolution of criminal justice thought will be presented and analyzed for
patterns of societal response to criminal conduct.
D. The student will become familiar with criminal justice databases and their purposes.
E. The student will learn crime rates and measures.
F. Students will be reintroduced to basic constitutional rights with emphasis upon those rights most often involving
criminal justice agencies.
G. Enhancement of students' understanding of the impact of politics, sociology, economics, and other dynamics upon the
role of Criminal Justice in the social order.
H. Students will be able to properly categorize human acts as moral, ethical, or legal violations.

III. Required Text and course materials: CJ Realities and Challenges (2011) by Ruth E. Masters et al. New York:
McGraw Hill Publishing. ISBN# 978-0-07-340151-5. Additionally, students are required to read appropriate, current
criminal justice journal articles and internet materials as assigned in Section VIII of this syllabus.

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IV. Grades will be posted based on the following scale: A+=98-100, A=94-97, A-=90-93: B+=87-89, B=84-86, B-=80-83,
C+77-79, C=74-76, C-=70-73, D+=67-69, D=64-66, D-=60-63, F=0-59. Grades are based on the following events (due
dates are in the course calendar and assignment schedule in Section XV of this syllabus). Please note that there is no
extra credit work available in this class and each student should strive to do his or her best work on each and every
grading event. The mathematical rule of rounding will apply to the computation of the final grade in the course
based on the grades received in the following events.

1. Examination I (100 points). questions from textbook, lectures and internet sites
2. Examination 2 (100 points). questions from textbook, lectures and internet sites
3. Examination 3 Final Examination. (100 points). questions from textbook, lectures and internet sites.
4. Essays (100 points) Answers to ten Essay questions must be submitted by the due dates in Section VIII of this
syllabus in essay format of 250 words or more per answer with 2 external references (references for all ten questions
must be in standard APA formatting).

Incomplete Grade Policy: As per university policy, incomplete grades will be granted only for work unavoidably missed
at the semester’s end and only if 70% of the course work has been completed. An incomplete grade must be resolved
within eight (8) weeks from the first day of the subsequent long semester. If the required work to complete the course and
to remove the incomplete grade is not submitted by the specified deadline, the incomplete grade is changed automatically
to a grade of F.

Examinations: There are three examinations that will consist of 50-75 objective items each with a maximum score of 100
points on each exam. Questions are taken from your textbook, lectures, and the internet sites identified in the course
outline section of this syllabus. Your score will be posted in percentage scores in your gradebook with a maximum score
of 100% on each. The professor will manually curve the class scores depending upon the highest grade made on each
exam. The manual adjustments will be entered into your gradebook within one week of the due date for each exam.

Essay Questions: Ten of the twenty essay items must be submitted during the semester pursuant to the due dates in
Section VIII. Each item is worth 10 points for a cumulative score of 100 on the essay grade. Questions not submitted by
the due dates will be reduced in grade 10 points per calendar day. Any questions not received by the last day of regular
class will receive a score of zero. Essay question answers must be the student’s own original work and must be
250 words or longer and each answer must be followed by the bibliographic information on two sources of
information in addition to the textbook or internet site. Cites must be formatted pursuant to APA style of writing.
In other words, please treat each discussion question as a mini-paper with three references including your textbook and
two additional sources. Answers that are simply blocked and moved from any other site that are not the original work of
the student posting the answer will receive a grade of zero unless properly cited and the student will be referred for
disciplinary action by the university.

Attention to proper writing and correct spelling is expected in the essays and is a part of the grade received for the
assignment. Use proper grammar and spelling and do not use any type of abbreviations or jargon not found in a
commonly accepted, standardized English dictionary.

V. Writing Standards
a. Examinations will be objective in format with the professor’s option of one ten point essay question on each.
Students should anticipate having to write in this course on the required essays or any essay questions that
may be included on exams.
b. All written work will be graded on quality of writing as well as substantive content. Written work must be
grammatically correct and correctly spelled. Additionally, papers must comply with an accepted style of writing
such as Turabian, APA, MLA or Uniform System of Citation.
c. Plagiarism: Any work, oral or written, that a student does for this course must be his/her original work or it
must be properly credited to the original source. Plagiarism includes any form of cheating on examinations,
tests, or quizzes, and the taking of ideas or words of another, whether published or unpublished, without
properly citing the source.

VI. Classroom Rules: Pagers and cell phones must be turned off or to vibrate/silent settings. Laptops are permitted in
silent mode for note taking purposes only. Comments from students should be directed to the entire class or to
the professor and all comments must show appropriate respect and/or tolerance for opposing viewpoints. No
person not enrolled in the class is permitted to attend the class without prior permission and no child may be
brought to class under any circumstances. No extra credit work of any type for any reason will be permitted in this
class unless such credit is extended to each and every student in the section. Students are encouraged to be
concerned about their course grade throughout the semester.
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VII. Students wishing information on the following topics and policies should visit the website following the list. Student
Conduct & Discipline, Student Grievance Procedures, Incomplete Grade Policy, Disability Services, Religious
Holy Days, Academic Integrity, Copyright Notice, Email Use, Withdrawal from Class, and Off-Campus Instruction
and Course Activities:
http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies.

VIII. COURSE CALENDAR AND ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

Please note that all reading assignments made in this assignment schedule refer to readings in the required textbook,
internet sites, or class handouts.

The Professor reserves the option of spending more or less time on each topic than is indicated on the course outline. To
stay abreast of topics, and to enable class discussion, required readings for each topic should be completed before the
class session devoted to the topic. Each student is responsible for the material in the assigned readings in addition to all
materials and discussions in the classroom. Remember that material will be presented in lectures that is not covered to
the same level in the text or the internet sites. Attendance and punctuality is important to your grade. Please feel free to
bring questions to class weekly as you progress on your readings and/or essays.

Session 1 Tues. Jan. 11: Welcome to the class and professor resume. Introduction to the course. Review of the
syllabus. Discuss writing assignment.
Assignment: Read preface and Chapter 1

Session 2 Thur. Jan. 13: Criminal justice and criminology. The criminal justice system.
Assignment: Read Chapters 1&2.

Session 3 Tues. Jan. 18: Types of crime. Measuring crime. Official, victim, and self-report data.
Assignment: Continue to read Chapters 2&3.

Session 4 Thur. Jan. 20: Crimes against persons, property, & public order. Political crime and organized crime.
Assignment: Read Chapter 3.

Required internet site #1: Go to www.fbi.gov. Click on Reports and Publications on the menu at the left side of the
page. Scroll down the page to On Statistics and then click on Crime in the United States (this is the Uniform Crime Report
or UCR).Then click on 2009 preliminary crime statistics. Click on both Table 2 and Table 3 at the left and look over the
crime patterns in each table. According to Table 3: what happened to the amount of violent crime in the United States in
2009/2008? In 2008/2007? In 2007/2006?

Session 5 Tues. Jan. 25 Causes of crime. Classical, Biological and psychological schools of thought.
Assignment: Continue to read Chapter 3.
Essay 1 due.

Required Internet site #2: Go to www.crimetheory.com/Archive/Beccaria. Read Chapter 1. What is the name of
Beccaria’s publication? When was it published? What is the name of the chapter you read? (Chapter 1)

Session 6 Thur. Jan. 27: Sociological schools of thought, social structure and social process theories.
Assignment: Read Chapter 4.

Session 7 Tues. Feb. 1: Criminal law and defenses. Sources of law. The Penal Code and Family Code.
Assignment: Read Chapter 4.
Essay 2 due.

Session 8 Thur. Feb. 3: Criminal and civil law. Elements of a crime.

Assignment: Read Chapter 4

Session 9 Tues. Feb. 8: Review for Exam 1.

Assignment: Study for Exam 1.
Essay 3 due.

Session 10 Thur. Feb. 10: EXAMINATION 1 ON CHAPTERS 1-4, AND THE ACCOMPANYING CHAPTER OUTLINES,
POWERPOINTS, AND INTERNET SITES.
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Assignment: Read Chapter 5

Session 11 Tues. Feb. 15: Return and discuss Exam 1. Lecture on history of policing.
Assignment: Read Chapter 5.
Essay 4 due.

Session 12 Thur. Feb. 17: Structure of the law enforcement system.

Assignment: Read Chapter 5.

Session 13 Tues. Feb. 22: Recruitment, selection, and training. Policing roles and strategies.
Assignment: Read Chapter 6.
Essay 5 due.

Required Internet site #3: Go to www.officer.com. Click on Careers on menu at top of page. Then click on Browse all
jobs. Click on 5 or 6 of the jobs listed and read the listings. What can you say about the educational requirements for
police officers?

Session 14 Thur. Feb. 24: Deployment of police resources. Report writing.

Assignment: Read Chapter 7

Session 15 Tues. Mar. 1: Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments and relationship to policing.
Assignment: Read Chapter 7
Essay 6 due.

Session 16 Thur. Mar. 3: Use of force.

Assignment: Read Chapter 8

Session 17 Tues. Mar. 8: Court structure sand jurisdiction. State and federal.
Assignment: Read Chapter 8.
Essay 7 due.

Required Internet site #4: Go to www.courts.state.tx.us . Examine the diagram of court structure on the page. What is
the highest court in Texas? (please note that this is a bit of a trick questions – please look at the diagram closely). What is
the difference between the District Courts and the Courts of Appeals?

Session 18 Thur. Mar. 10: The courtroom workgroup.

Assignment: Read Chapter 8

Session 19 Tues. Mar. 15: Spring Break

Assignment: none.

Session 20 Thur. Mar. 17: Spring Break

Assignment: none.

Session 21 Tues. Mar. 22: Discussion of the role of the victim in court, Review for Exam 2.
Assignment: Study for Exam 2.
Essay 8 due.

Session 22 Thur. Mar. 24: EXAMINATION 2 ON CHAPTERS 5-8 AND RELATED INTERNET SITES.
Assignment: Read Chapter 9.

Session 23 Tues. Mar. 29: Pretrial and trial, due process and burden of proof.
Assignment: Read Chapter 10
Essay 9 due.

Session 24 Thur. March 31: Sentencing: types of models.

Assignment: Read Chapter 11.

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Session 25 Tues. Apr. 5: History of corrections. Corporal punishments and death, banishment, Pennsylvania and Auburn
systems.
Assignment: Read Chapter 11
Essay 10 due.

Session 26 Thur. Apr. 7: Prison populations, victim issues, gender issues.

Assignment: Read Chapter 12

Session 27 Tues. Apr. 12: Jails and prisons. Prisoner rights.

Assignment: Read Chapter 13

Session 28 Thur. Apr. 14: Probation

Assignment: Read Chap. 13

Session 29 Tues. Apr. 19: Parole and intermediate sanctions.

Assignment: Read Chapter 14

Session 30 Thur. Apr. 21: Juvenile system: history and development, philosophy, family code, referral process, detention
and detention hearings, informal adjustment, diversion and petition.
Assignment: Read Chapter 15

Required Internet site #5: Go to http://www.dallascounty.org/department/HR/employment.html. Click on the jobs tab on

the menu at left. Then click on the job category of Law Enforcement, Probation, Security, and Public Safety and hit
search. What is the minimum pay for a Detention Officer 1? For a Juvenile Probation Officer?

Session 31 Tues. Apr. 26: Court process, trial, dispositions, TYC, CPS, sealing and expunging records.
Assignment: Read Chapters 15

Session 32 Thur. Apr. 28: Review.

Assignment: Study for final exam.

Session 33: Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 8am. Final Examination, in the regular classroom. Chapters 9-15 plus
questions from previous exams, assigned studies, and class notes.