COURSE SYLLABUS

ARMSTRONG ATLANTIC STATE UNIVERSITY

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 88 1 1: Criminal Justice Leadership & Management

Fall , 2008

Section: 1 ( Online)

INSTRUCTOR: BECKY KOHLER da CRUZ, J.D.

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice

OFFICE: UH 219 PHONE: 344-2748 E-MAIL:

OFFICE HOURS: M/W 11:00 to 1:30, T/H 2:00 to 2:30, or by Appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION :

Effectiveness and efficiency of criminal justice agencies, as fostered by ethical leadership. Focus on administrative theory and its application to practical reality.

COURSE RATIONALE:

This course provides a general overview of the issues and problems in the management of criminal justice agencies with an emphasis on ethical leadership. Students are provided an opportunity to address real criminal justice management issues and problems, and discover ways to resolve them while applying theory to practical situations. Issues examined are particularly relevant to the administration of police, courts, and corrections. Upon completion of this course students should be able to identify various management styles and recognize each style’s strengths and limitations relative to organizational problem solving. Specifically, the student will be able to:

1. Identify criminal justice agency goals and purposes as well as describe the environments in which they must operate;

2. Describe organizational structures and management practices commonly found in criminal justice agencies;

3. Describe and apply methods of evaluating and improving organizational performance; and

4. Describe and apply methods of identifying and solving management and organizational performance problems.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK :

Stojkovic, S., Kalinich, D., & Klofas, J. (2008). Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management (4th ed.). Wadsworth. ISBN # 9780534645878.

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS :

Week 1 Introduction to the course room

Basic Concepts for Understanding Criminal Justice Organizations

Chapter 1

Article: Feeley, M. M. (1973). Two models of the criminal justice system: An organizational perspective. Law and Society Review, 7(3) 407-425.

Week 2 Structure of Criminal Justice Organizations

Chapter 2

Article: Bohn, R. M. (2006). “McJustice:” On the McDonalization of Criminal Justice. Justice Quarterly, 23(1), 127-144.

Week 3 The Criminal Justice System in Its Environment

Chapter 3

Article: Wenzel, S. L., Longshore, D, Turner, S. & Ridgely, M. S. (2001). Drug courts: A bridge between criminal justice and health services. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 241-253.

Week 4 Problems of Communication

Chapter 4

Article: Wright, K. N. (1980). The desirability of goal conflict within the criminal justice system. Journal of Criminal Justice, 9, 209-218.

Week 5 Motivation of Personnel

Chapter 5

Article: Engel, R. S. (2001). Supervisory style of patrol sergeants and lieutenants. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 341-355.

Week 6 Job Design

Chapter 6

Article: Rosecrance, J. (1987). Getting rid of the prima donnas: The bureaucratization of a probation department. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 14(2), 138-155.

Week 7 Leadership

Chapter 7

Article: Souryal, S. S. & Diamond, D. L. (2001). The rhetoric of personal loyalty to superiors in criminal justice agencies. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29, 543-554.

Week 8 Personnel Supervision and Evaluation

Chapter 8

Article: Marquart, J. W., Barnhill, M. B., & Balshaw-Biddle, K. (1996). Fatal attraction: An analysis of employee boundary violations in a Southern prison system. Justice Quarterly, 18(4). 877-910.

Week 9 Occupational Socialization

Chapter 9

Article: Pogrebin, M. R. & Poole, E. D. (1988). Humor in the briefing room: A study of the strategic uses of humor among police. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography (formally Urban Life), 17(2), 183-210.

Week 10 Power and Political Behavior

Chapter 10

Article: Terrill, W. & McCluskey, J. (2002). Citizen complaints and problem officers: Examining officer behavior. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 143-155.

Week 11 Organizational Conflict

Chapter 11

Article: Jenn, K. & Mannix, E. (April, 2001). The dynamic nature of conflict: A longitudinal study of intragroup conflict and group performance. Academy of Management Journal, 238-251.

Week 12 Decision Making

Chapter 12

Article: Gilbert, M. J. (1997). The illusion of structure: A critique of the classical model of organization and the discretionary power of correctional officers. Criminal Justice Review, 22(1), 49-64.

Week 13 Organizational Effectiveness

Chapter 13

Article: Rosecrance, J. (1988). Maintaining the myth of individualized justice: Probation presentence reports. Justice Quarterly, 5(2), 235-256.

Week 14 Change and Innovation

Chapter 14

Article: Allen, R. Y. W (2002). Assessing the impediments to organizational change: A view of community policing. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 511-517.

Week 15 Research in Criminal Justice Organizations

Chapter 15

Article: Ferguson, J. L. (2002). Putting the “what works” research into practice: An organizational perspective. Criminal Justice Behavior, 29(4).

Final’s Week Paper Due

CLASS FORMAT:

This class is completely an online course. However, please use the course room, email, phone, and my office to communicate with me and other classmates about course material.

CLASS CONDUCT :

Students are required to follow appropriate netiquette in the course room. Any behavior, which is disruptive to the learning environment, is strictly prohibited. If you fail to engage in appropriate course room conduct, you will be removed from the course room.

EVALUATION METHODS :

Weekly Discussion s :

You will have two postings to complete under the Discussion link every week. Your initial posting for each question is due by midnight Friday and your response to at least one other student is due by midnight Sunday each week. No late postings will be read or graded.You will receive a zero for not posting on time. Each initial posting is worth 1.5 points and the response posting to a fellow student is worth .5 points. Therefore you earn 2 points per question. There will be 30 questions over the course of the semester (2 questions per week with 2 points for each question = 60 points total for Discussion postings).

Postings must address the question posed and be substantive i.e. incorporate reading material, lecture notes, and/or outside research to answer the questions. Be sure to cite the material used. Each posting must be at least 250 words long (1 typed page). Be sure you have checked your postings for grammar and spelling mistakes also.

Paper:

I. Overview

Each student will be required to write on a topic relevant to the class material. Specific topics will be selected in consultation with the instructor. A paper (20 page minimum – not counting title paper, references, tables, etc.) will be required on your specific topic.

II. Paper

A. The paper must summarize and discuss your topic. It must contain:

1. A clear statement of the problem or issue of concern,

2. Summaries of present relevant research from at least 10 sources,

3. A discussion of the implications of proposed solutions for future policy, practice, and research in juvenile justice, and

4. The student’s evaluation and conclusions regarding possible methods of managing the problem; i.e. the student’s opinion on the issues raised.

B. The instructor is looking for what you have learned about current issues how the administration and management influences the inner workings of criminal justice agencies. The paper is expected to have content and thoughtful analysis on the topic on an “advanced” level. I expect that the paper is based on adequate references of scholarly materials rather than introductory textbooks or popular writings. I encourage you to add your own opinions; however, those opinions should be carefully considered, logical, and supported by evidence or outside rationale. The most common mistakes are (a) just summarizing the topic and not analyzing it or discussing your views, (b) failing to relate the subject to larger (broader) agency issues as found in the readings. Broader issues are how the research might yield a different approach to criminal justice, usefulness of various alternatives, different approaches to agency management, etc.

III. Format and Submission of the Paper

A. Title page with your name, title of the paper, and course number.

B. The length of the paper is a minimum of 20 pages, typed, double-spaced content. This does not count the title page or the reference page(s).

C. Minimum of at least ten (10) references should be on a separate sheet. References should not be before 2000. You must reference all sources used within the paper in order to avoid plagiarism. Use APA format.

D. Grading will include an assessment of the student’s understanding of the materials, the adequacy of the critique, and the logical quality of the written and verbal argument. Final papers are due during finals week. The date will be announced in the course room. Late papers will not be accepted and a grade of zero will be assigned. Plagiarism will result in an automatic zero.

FINAL GRADE STANDARDS :

Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 0 points

Weekly Discussions . . . . . . 6 0 points

1 00 points

You can earn a maximum of one hundred (100) points in this course. The approximate letter and numerical equivalents are as follows:

Grade Points Percent

A 100-90 90%-100%

B 90-80 80-90%

C 80-70 70-80%

D 70-60 60-70%

F 60-0 below 60%

STANDARDS OF HONESTY :

The college experience is founded on the concepts of honesty and integrity. Dishonesty, cheating, and plagiarism will not be tolerated in this course. Plagiarism is representing someone else’s work as your own. It includes quoting or paraphrasing a secondary source without citing that source, or copying, buying, or stealing written work from another person or another source. All class writings must be a student’s own original work, created this semester for this particular course. Remember, plagiarism is not only immoral- it is illegal. Students who commit plagiarism will receive a zero (0) for that work. If cheating/plagiarism continue, the student will receive a failing grade in the course and I reserve the right to submit student’s plagiarism to the Student Honor Court as provided for the Student Handbook. Such an offense can be referred to the university’s honor court and become a matter of your academic record.