This course examines social control functions of the law and focuses upon specific issues of criminal law, juvenile justice, criminal procedure, constitutional protection and ethics. The course evaluates complex and diverse interests that compete between subsystems of the Criminal Justice System when issues of social control are implemented. The case study method is used to familiarize students with the legal research skills necessary to effectively understand other criminal justice issues in their proper context. Analysis and presentation of qualitative data including grounded theory techniques, case studies, and computer-based analytic approaches are explored. This course emphasizes an understanding of statistical concepts.
Students learn to use statistics to address real world problems in criminal justice.
Statistical theory of inference and sampling designs are covered. Focus is directed toward the critical analysis of data with the objective of drawing meaningful conclusions from such analysis. The thesis is an independent empirical research project selected by the student with the approval of the faculty member who supervises the project.