Associate in Science – Administration of Justice TMC
May 17, 2011
(Updated Dec 4, 2012)
5-Year Review – June 30, 2016
CCC Major or Area of Emphasis:Administration of Justice
CSU Major or Majors: Criminal Justice, Criminology
Total units: 18 minimum(all units are semester units)
Degree Type: AS-T
List “A” – REQUIRED CORE COURSES:
6 units total
Introduction to Criminal Justice (3) / AJ 110
Concepts of Criminal Law (3) / AJ 120
List “B” – CHOOSE ANY TWO OF THE FOLLOWING COURSES:
6 units total
Legal Aspects of Evidence (3) / AJ 124
Criminal Investigation (3) / AJ 140
Introduction to Forensics (3) / AJ 150
Community & the Justice System (3) / AJ 160
Introduction to Corrections (3) / AJ 200
Juvenile Procedures (3) / AJ 220
List “C” – CHOOSE ANY TWO OF THE FOLLOWING COURSES:
(minimum 6 units total)
Introduction to Sociology (3) / SOCI 110Introduction to Statistics in Sociology (3)
Or
Introduction to Statistics (3)
OR
Comparable (see example) / SOCI 125
OR
MATH 110
Introductory Psychology (3) / PSY 110
OR any CSU transferable Administration of Justice lower division course or courses outside the Administration of Justice discipline that are articulated as lower division major preparation for the Criminal Justice or Criminology Major at any CSU.
SAMPLE course descriptions:
Elementary Statistics
PSYC B5 Elementary Statistics for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (5 units)
Statistics as applied to the behavioral and social sciences. Emphasizes research design, the organization of data, measures of central tendency and variability, the normal curve, correlation and regression, hypothesis testing, parametric and nonparametric techniques, and one-way and two-way analysis of variance. Prerequisites: MATH BD. Introductory course in Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics or Political Science (may be taken concurrently). Recommended: Reading Level 5 or 6, English Level 5. Hours: 90 lect.
(Bakersfield College; articulated as prep for the CJ major at CSU Bakersfield)
5-Year Review – Summary
Statewide, 31 respondents replied to the TMC five-year update survey. Respondents included CCC and CSU faculty.
On 10/28/2015, the FDRG met, via teleconference, to review the survey results. The FDRG was composed of CSU and CCC reviewers. Questions one and two are basically demographic questions. Survey question #3 asks, “Are there are any changes you would like to see in the List “A” section of the TMC?” An overwhelming 81.3% felt that List “A” is appropriate as constructed. Four others each wanted to add another (but different) course to the section.
The only course descriptor that needs to be updated for the TMC is for:
AJ 110 – Introduction to Criminal Justice
The FDRG recommends that the APA research format needs to be made advisory only and not a course requirement. Additionally, the below listed textbooks should be updated to include:
Suggested Textbooks:
Criminal Justice Today by Frank Schmalleger, 2015, Pearson Prentice Hall, 13th Ed.
The American System of Criminal Justice by Cole and Smith, 2017, Cengage, 5th Ed.
Criminal Justice in Action by Larry Gaines, 2015, Cengage, 8th Ed.
Rationale:
An overwhelming response (64.9% plus the 5.4% that did not comment or 70.3%) reported that the descriptor is appropriate the way it is. The focus of the 12 responses was to update the textbook and remove the APA writing assignment. Other suggestions were critical of English structure and individual preferences of sentence structure. One thought there were too many course outcomes, but this is not being addressed at this time.
The AOJ course was the only one in the state with that requirement and our CSU member advised us that is not a requirement at the CSU level either. Under the “Methods of Evaluation” section of the AJ110 course descriptors, the “Research papers using APA, ASA, or a generally accepted Social Science format” should be deleted. It should be replaced with “The writing assignment is recommended to be of a scholarly quality.”
List “B” Section Review
Survey question #4 asks, “Are there any changes you would like to see in the List “B” section of the TMC?” Again, an overwhelming 65.6% felt List “B” was appropriate as constructed. Two suggested an Introduction to Criminology course should be included. The others suggested replacing courses with other courses (none were the same and usually found in the List “B” section already), one felt there should be 9 units in the List “B” section and another felt there should be some type of feeder course for the California Bar.
FDRG recommends no changes in List “B” at this time.
List “C” Section Review
Survey question #5 asks, “Are there any changes you would like to see in the List “C” section of the TMC?” An overwhelming 84.4% felt that List “C” was appropriate as constructed. One response asked about statistics replacing a math class; one wanted a Social Justice course; one wanted a Drugs and Society course as well as a Criminal Street Gangs course; one requested a Social Deviance course. All of their concerns have already been met and could be included in the List “C” category as presently constructed.
FDRG recommends no changes in List “C” at this time.
Survey question #6 asks for any comments or suggested changes to the TMC. Of the 14 responses, eight did not want any changes or made positive comments about the TMC and how it is working well for them (however, one included a rant that this was a legislative-mandated curriculum change). The other six respondents each wanted a different course or focus added to the TMC.
FDRG recommends no additional changes to the TMC at this time.
TMC – ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE - Summary
Was the TMC vetted appropriately?
Administration of Justice vetted an original TMC with Group I, which consisted of eighteen (18) units of Admin. Justice courses from a list of nine courses ( 27 units), plus the thirty-nine (39) units of GE breadth. This TMC was vetted with over 210 respondents from the Community Colleges and approximately three from the CSU’s, of which 190 refused to respond to whether the TMC would adequately serve as a transfer degree. During the follow-up conference call that discussed the vetted TMC, the CSU representatives stated this TMC would not serve as a adequate transfer degree and was not aligned with any CSU. As a result, a new TMC was developed in collaboration with CSU and CCC academic senates. This new TMC was vetted between March and April 11, 2011. There were approximately 67 respondents to the TMC, of which 18 were CSU, and the remainder were CCC representatives.
Were Identified Issues dealt with appropriately?
A critical examination of the survey instrument revealed the following: there were 19 respondents who voted in favor of the TMC and 14 respondents who voted “NO” on the TMC with a statement or comment. The issues or comments made by those voting “no” are listed:
Do not wish to give up six units of AJ for GE courses
Want the original TMC
Need 24 units in the Major and No GE courses
Appears to be a conspiracy between CSU and back door politics.
Need more diversity on this committee
Need Criminology for AJ breadth
Need more Corrections courses.
Need Report Writing Course included in TMC
A close examination of the “NO” votes revealed that all were from 3 community colleges.
The CSU’s representatives indicated the TMC must be flexible , with a combination of Admin. Justice and General Education courses, in order to align with the fifteen (15) different Criminal Justice programs at each of the CSU’s. Report Writing for Criminal Justice is a technical writing course and not appropriate for transfer. Increasing the number of Admin. Justice courses in the TMC would further limit the number of General Education courses and eliminate any possibility of “double-counting”. And, increasing the number of General Education courses in the TMC would possibly confuse the student selecting appropriate courses and change the “major” from Admin. Justice to Liberal Arts. SB 1440 is very clear the CCC’s will determine the “major” and there must be at least eighteen (18) units in the defined “major” . Additionally, the TMC vetted allows for one course , within or outside of the Admin. Justice discipline, that is articulated with a CSU as major preparation for the CSU major. The issues were briefly discussed and assessed as “old” issues that were dismissed in the first TMC vetted.
The TMC was discussed at a CSU Criminal Justice Dept. Chair meeting at CSULA on April 10, 2011. It was reported that some of the Chairs believed the TMC aligned with their program ; other chairs were not happy with the legislation or the TMC but could make the TMC work in their program. None of the Chairs said the TMC would not work or was unacceptable. The TMC did not require any changes or editing as vetted. A vote was taken on whether to accept or reject the TMC ; the TMC was accepted unanimously as vetted (5-0).
TMC Minimum requirements:
The TMC requires 18 units in the major which consists of the following:
Six units of required Admin. Justice courses ( 2 courses)
Six units of elective Admin Justice Courses from a list of twenty-one units ( 7 courses)
Six units ( 2 courses) of General Education Courses from a list of nine units (3 courses)
OR, any two courses not selected from List B
OR, any Admin. Justice course, or any course outside of the Admin. Justice discipline, articulated with a CSU as major prep for a CSU criminal justice major.
The TMC with the required CSU GE requirements can be accomplished with 60 units and does fit the 120 unit degree requirements. Double counting was allowed in the TMC as up to nine (9) units may be double counted ( Intro . to Admin. Justice, Intro. to Sociology, Intro. to Psychology, Statistics).
This TMC is consistent with restrictions outlined in section 8 of the TMC checklist and this TMC was developed with the assistance from the CCC and CSU Academic Senates.