Course Descriptions

Criminal Justice
LA 802, (406) 657-2119

CRIM 225/SOCI 221 Introduction to Crime and Justice
[formerly CRIM/SOCL 225 Introduction to Crime and Justice]
(TN) 3 cr.  Familiarizes students with the phenomena of crime and the formal mechanisms of crime control.  Uniform Crime Report and National Crime Survey will be used as the primary crime database for examination.  Special attention will be paid to study police, their organization and function, as the first-line agent of crime control.

CRIM/SOCL 226 Introduction to Probation 3 cr. Prerequisites: SOCI 101, CRIM 225/SOCI 221.  Provides an in-depth examination of the role of probation in the criminal justice system.  Topics include caseloads, pre-sentence investigations, practices and procedures, and issues associated with supervising offenders in the community.

CRIM/SOCL 227 Introduction to Policing 3 cr. Prerequisites: SOCI 101, CRIM 225/SOCI 221.  Examines the police as a component of the criminal justice system.  Provides an overview of law enforcement agencies at the local, state, and federal levels.  Issues and trends in law enforcement will be examined.

CRIM/SOCL 228 Race, Class, Gender and Crime 3 cr. Prerequisite: SOCI 101.  Explores the effects of social stratification on crime.  Examines the relationship between social class, race/ethnicity, and gender and the criminal justice system.  Includes analysis of populations as both offenders and victims.

CRIM 292 Seminar 3 cr.  Provides freshman and sophomores an opportunity to investigate intensively topics pertinent to the field of Criminal Justice.

CRIM 324/SOCI 311 Criminology
[formerly CRIM/SOCL 324 Criminology]
3 cr. Prerequisite: CRIM 225/SOCI 221.  Explores the legal aspects of crime by examining the sociological aspects of making of law.  Major contemporary theories in crime as well as criminal behavior systems will be discussed.

CRIM 325/SOCI 327 Sociology of Deviance
[formerly CRIM/SOCL 325 Sociology of Deviance]
3 cr. Prerequisite: SOCI 101.  Examines deviant behavior in contemporary society.  Explores why certain people and types of behaviors come to be defined as deviant.  Introduces students to theoretical explanations of deviance.

CRIM/SOCL 413 Administration of Law Enforcement 3 cr. Prerequisite: SOCI 101.  Examines the structure and organization of law enforcement agencies.  Students will learn how to manage police departments and sheriff’s departments.  Topics include law enforcement organizational patterns, goal identification, planning, personnel management, and budgeting.

CRIM/SOCL 421 Criminal Justice Ethics 3 cr. Prerequisites: SOCI 101, CRIM 225/SOCI 221.  Examines ethical issues in law enforcement, courts, and corrections.  Students will learn moral and ethical standards that can be used to resolve dilemmas they encounter in the criminal justice system.

CRIM/SOCI 423 Introduction to Corrections 4 cr. Prerequisite: SOCI 101.  Examines philosophies of punishment and provides an introduction to institutional and community corrections.  Topics include prisons, jails, and probation.  Field work is a required feature of this course and will consist of field trips to local correctional facilities.

CRIM/SOCI 425 Crime Prevention and Victimology
[formerly CRIM/SOCL 425 Crime Prevention and Victimology]
3 cr. Prerequisite: SOCI 311/CRIM 324 or SOCI 330.  Applies theoretical understandings gained in Criminology and Juvenile Delinquency to construct and evaluate programs in crime prevention.  The primary objective is to familiarize students with major prevention strategies, both criminalization (becoming a criminal) and victimization (becoming a victim), as well as certain operational mechanisms.

CRIM/SOCL 450 Computer Crime 3 cr.  Examines the theoretical definition and applied context of crime committed either through or with “information age technology.”  Topics to be defined and discussed include privacy and information, wire tapping and encryption, internet security, communication in cyberspace, and censorship.  Special consideration will be given to such topics as the multinational criminal definitions of software piracy, hacking, information theft, digital forgery, and other internet crimes.

CRIM 492 Seminar 3 cr.  Provides advanced students an opportunity to investigate intensively topics pertinent to the field of Criminal Justice.