CRM 5020G - Public Policy, Crime, and Criminal Justice

Credits: 4

This course will provide an overview of the means through which criminal justice policy is envisioned, developed, and implemented in the United States. Political considerations as well as research and evidenced-based practice will be investigated and interrogated. The frequent disconnect between the intended objectives and goals of criminal justice policy from conception to street-level implementation will also be considered and questioned. Criminal justice policies relating to immigrations issues, homeland security, law enforcement practices in communities of color, the “War on Drugs,” “stop and frisk,” gang-related enforcement, intimate-partner violence, sex offenders, and “community policing” (and others) will be critically examined and evaluate. Students will identify and articulate the means by which elected and appointed officials, activist groups, and the media inform, shape, and often establish policy in the criminal justice arena. Policies that relate to juvenile crime and juvenile institutions, sex crimes and sex offenders, capital punishment, “Three Strikes” laws, restorative justice, terrorism and cybercrime, as well as contemporary policing and police organizations, will all be carefully considered, surveyed, examined, and investigated. This course is cross-listed for both graduates and advanced undergraduates.