This is the capstone course for the Criminal Justice Studies Program. The purpose of this course is to integrate all academic criminal justice learning, knowledge, and skills in order to provide a total understanding of the criminal justice system and how it applies to the future of the students. Students will demonstrate their abilities to conduct scholarly academic research, employ critical thinking skills, use deductive reasoning. Students will address current issues in criminal justice using analytical skills to frame problems and suggest solutions will be stressed. Oral and written presentations in class will emphasize problem solving techniques and analysis. Ethical, political and social issues that impact criminal justice research will also be examined.
This course examines the many duties of a criminal investigator at a death scene that will lead to a successful completion of a criminal investigation. The student will develop an understanding of the legal responsibilities and requirements of a death scene investigator, how to secure a crime scene, identification and collection of evidence, identification of the victim, identification of the cause and manner of death, methods for interviewing witnesses, procedures for establishing time of death, techniques for obtaining statements and confessions, procedures for following up of leads, and case preparation procedures for trial.
This course provides an overall view of the techniques involved in investigating crimes, basic interviewing of victims and witnesses, identifying and questioning suspects, organizing investigations. Specific topics covered are crime scene procedures, searches, surveillance, sources of information, use of scientific aids, recognition of evidence, and ethics in criminal investigations. The course is designed to provide a foundation of criminal investigation procedures and techniques. Emphasis is on a logical scientific approach to crime scene investigations since investigation is in large part a science. Through discussion and hands-on exercises the student practices the application of the scientific method to criminal investigations. Students will be exposed to actual criminal investigations and processes through lectures, slides, videos, and reviews of actual past cases.
Lab component of Forensic Science
This course examines law enforcement agencies and their roles, functions, history, and how they developed within the field of Criminal Justice. Additionally, the course gives an overview of the components of the law enforcement profession; namely the evolution of law enforcement, contemporary law enforcement, challenges to the profession, and law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Examines law reviews the structure and function of law enforcement agencies in the United States at the state, local, and federal levels. Differences between levels, as well as current issues and problems facing law enforcement administrators are emphasized.
This course provides an overview of the American criminal justice system, emphasizing the three system components; the police, the courts, and corrections. Topics will include the role of police in a democratic society, the relationship of the various courts within the system, the processes of punishment and rehabilitation, and the roles and interactions of the Federal and State systems of criminal justice.