CJ 7312: Criminal Justice Ethics, Administration, and Public Policy
Spring 2011
Instructor Information: Joycelyn M. Pollock, Ph.D., J.D., 245-7706;
Texas State University’s TRACS Platform: Syllabi, class notes, and other material will be placed on TXST’s TRACS home page.
Course Description & Objectives
This course addresses the role of ethics in criminal justice organizations and policymaking. Topics include the moral philosophy of criminal justice, the role of natural and constitutional law, codes of ethics and ethical review systems, and ethical decision-making by criminal justice professionals with attention to training issues. The first portion of the course exposes the student to works by Aristotle, Kant, Bentham, Mills, Rawls and other well known philosophers. The second portion of the course examines two criminal justice textbooks that cover the topics above. Current research questions and issues, including selection, training and prevention of corruption in criminal justice agencies will be discussed and be the subject of required research papers.
Students will:
1. Become familiar with ethics systems, such as utilitarianism, ethical formalism, the ethics of virtue, and egoism.
2. Become familiar with the writings of well known philosophers and their views on the ethical question: what is good?
3. Become familiar with the various issues and debates in criminal justice ethics.
4. Be able to utilize the above information to develop an undergraduate ethics course and/or to develop a research project in the field of ethics.
Required Texts
Banks, Cyndi. Criminal Justice Ethics: Theory and Practice, 2d Ed. 2009. Sage Publishers (978-1-4129-5832-2)
Dreisbach, Christopher. Ethics in Criminal Justice. 2008. McGraw Hill (978-0-07-337999-9)
Singer, Peter. A Companion to Ethics. 1993. Blackwell Publ. (978-0-631-18785-1)
Recommended (not required)
Pollock, Joycelyn, Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice, 7th edition, 2011
(You may obtain used copies of these books via Amazon or other websites.)
Various articles and handouts will also be required as indicated. These will be posted on TRACS for you to print or be available via hyperlinks. Also, several criminal justice journal articles will be posted for the readings in the third section of the course on current research.
Class Format, Attendance and Participation
The class is designed as a seminar and each student must be an active participant in every class. There may be some class sessions run through a website at some point during the semester. Each student is responsible for each reading assigned for that class period.
Academic-Scholastic Dishonesty
The department generally follows the university dishonesty policies. Please be aware of them.
Grading
Participation:
Attendance + participation …………………………………………………….. 50
Attendance: after the first absence, all others will detract from the student’s grade
Participation: any time the student is unprepared will count as an absence. Generally, students should be prepared to briefly summarize the readings and/or chapters in the required text. Notes are highly recommended!
Seminar Papers: ……………………………………………………………… 150
Three papers will be required:
- Some topic related to policing: i.e., blue curtain of secrecy, use of tasers, screening, prevalence of misconduct, ethics training, etc.
- Some topic related to courts: prosecutorial misconduct, Guantanamo & military commissions, forensic science, wrongful convictions, procedural justice
- Some topic related to corrections: restorative justice, death penalty, correctional officer misconduct, civil disabilities
ALL LATE PAPERS WILL BE PENALIZED 10 POINTS PERDAY.
Each paper must use a combination of general criminal justice journals AND ethics journals as sources. More information about the use of sources will be covered in class. Each paper should be about 13-15 pages with at least 5 academic sources.
Mid term exam ………………………………………………………………….. 100
Comprehensive written final…………………………………………………… 100
Mid term and final are essayexams that will cover the broad range of material of the course. Final is comprehensive. Grading will be based on content and writing.
Grading Scale
Grades will be assigned according to the following percentages:
A100%-90%B89%-80%
C79%-70%
Tentative Course Outline
Week 1, Jan. 18: Introduction to course and syllabi. Books must be purchased by beginning of course. Instructor will provide overview of field of criminal justice ethics.
Week 2, Jan. 25:Singer: 1, 3, 8, 9
Week 3, Feb, 1: Singer 10, 11, 12 (Aristotle in Resources Section)
Week 4, Feb.8:Singer 13, 14, 15 (Locke in Resources Section)
Week 5, Feb.15: Singer 16, 17, 19 (Bentham & Kant in Resources Section)
Week 6, Feb.22: Singer 32, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47
Week 7, Mar.1: Dreisbach (Ch 1-10) PAPER #1 DUE
Week 8,Mar.8: Mid-term Exam.
Week 9, Mar.15: No class, spring break
Week 10, Mar.22: Dreisbach (Ch 11-15) + Rabe-Hemp in Resources
Week 11, March 29: Video //// PAPER #2DUE
Week 12, Apr.5: Banks (Ch 1-7) + Reeves in Resources
Week 13, April 12: Banks (Ch 8-12)
Week 14, April 19: Banks (13 to end) + Wozniak in Resources
Week 15, April 26: Comparison of books, Discussion of Final
FINAL: PAPER #3DUE. Final scheduled as per final schedule.