Learning Objectives for
Essentials of Criminal Justice
CHAPTER 1
Crime and Criminal Justice
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Discuss the formation of the criminal justice system
- Be able to define the concept of a criminal justice system
- Name the three basic component agencies of criminal justice
- Be familiar with the size and scope of the contemporary justice system
- Trace the formal criminal justice process
- Know what is meant by the term “criminal justice assembly line”
- Characterize the “informal criminal justice system”
- Describe the “wedding cake” model of justice
- Be familiar with the various perspectives on justice
- Understand the ethical issues in criminal justice
CHAPTER 2
The Nature of Crime and Victimization
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Be able to discuss how crime is defined
- Be familiar with the methods used to measure crime
- Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of crime measures
- Recognize the trends in the crime rate
- Comment on the factors that influence crime rates
- Be familiar with international crime trends and how the US compares to other nations
- Know the various crime patterns
- Understand the concept of the criminal career
- Be able to discuss the characteristics of crime victims
- Distinguish between the various views of crime causation
CHAPTER 3
Criminal Law: Substance and Procedure
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Know the similarities and differences between criminal and civil law
- Understand the concept of substantive criminal law and its history
- Discuss the sources of the criminal law
- Be familiar with the elements of a crime
- Define the term “strict liability”
- Be able to discuss excuses and justification defenses for crime
- Be familiar with the most recent developments in criminal law reform
- Describe the role of the Bill of Rights in shaping criminal procedure
- List the elements of due process law
- Know about the role the Supreme Court plays in interpreting the constitution and shaping procedural laws.
CHAPTER 4
Police in Society: History and Organization
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Describe how law enforcement developed in feudal England
- Summarize characteristics of the first law enforcement agencies
- Discuss the development of law enforcement in the United States
- Analyze the problems of early police agencies
- Discuss how reformers attempted to create professional police agencies
- Describe the major changes in law enforcement between 1970 and today
- Be familiar with the major federal law enforcement agencies
- Summarize the differences among state, county, and local law enforcement
- Explain the role of technology in police work
CHAPTER 5
The Police: Role and Function
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Understand the organization of police departments
- Articulate the complexities of the police role
- Explain the limitations of patrol and the methods for improving it
- Summarize the investigation function
- Explain what forensics is and what forensic experts do for police agencies
- Understand the concept of community policing
- Discuss the concept of problem-oriented policing
- Be familiar with the various police support functions
CHAPTER 6
Issues in Policing: Professional, Social, and Legal
- Summarize demographic trends in policing
- Explain how minority and female officers act and are treated
- Explain police culture and personality
- Identify distinct policing styles
- Describe factors that affect police discretion
- Discuss four major problems of policing
- Distinguish between deadly and non-deadly force and methods for controlling them
- Explain the importance of less lethal weapons
- Be familiar with the Supreme Court’s involvement with the police through its effort to control search and seizure and interrogation, and the establishment of the exclusionary rule
CHAPTER 7
Courts, Prosecution, and the Defense
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Describe the varying structures of the state court system
- Describe the federal court system
- Summarize the selection procedures and duties of the trial judge
- Explain the role of the prosecutor
- Describe prosecutorial discretion and summarize its pros and cons
- Understand the role of the defense attorney in the justice process
- Discuss the different forms of indigent defense
- Summarize the pros and cons of private attorneys
- Be familiar with the expanding role of technology in the court process
CHAPTER 8
Pretrial and Trial Procedures
After completing this chapter, students will be able to…
- Summarize the bail process
- Discuss the main issues associated with bail
- Differentiate between the two main mechanisms for charging defendants (grand jury indictment or prosecutor’s information)
- Summarize the pleas available to a criminal defendant
- Explain the issues in plea bargaining
- Describe the plea bargaining process
- Explain the purpose of “pretrial diversion”
- Describe the goals and purpose of the trial process
- Explain the legal rights of the accused at trial
- Summarize the trial process
CHAPTER 9
Punishment and Sentencing
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Outline the historical development of punishment
- List the major goals of contemporary sentencing
- Distinguish between general and specific deterrence, incapacitation and retribution
- Compare rehabilitation with just deserts
- Identify various sentencing models
- Explain how sentences are imposed
- Summarize factors associated with sentencing decisions
- List the arguments for and against capital punishment
- Be familiar with the legal issues associated with capital punishment
CHAPTER 10
Community Sentences: Probation, Intermediate Sanctions, and Restorative Justice
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Be familiar with the concept of community sentencing
- Know the history of community sentences
- Recognize the different types of probation sentences
- Be familiar with the rules of probation
- Know about the organization and administration of probation services
- List and discuss the elements of a probation department’s duties
- Be familiar with the legal rights of probationers
- Debate the effectiveness of probation
- Know what is meant by intermediate sanctions
- Define restorative justice and discuss its merits
CHAPTER 11
Corrections: History, Institutions, and Populations
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Understand the meaning of the term “the new penology”
- Be able to explain how the first penal institutions developed in Europe
- Explain how William Penn revolutionized corrections
- Compare the New York and Pennsylvania prison models
- Chart the development of penal reform
- Know how parole developed
- List the purposes of jails and be familiar with the makeup of jail populations
- Be familiar with the term “new generation jail”
- Classify the different types of federal and state penal institutions
- Discuss prison population trends
CHAPTER 12
Prison Life: Living in and Leaving Prison
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Discuss the problems of the adult correctional system
- Know what is meant by the term “total institution”
- Differentiate between a no-frills and a rehabilitation philosophy
- Chart the prisonization process and the development of the inmate social code
- Compare the lives and culture of male and female inmates
- Be familiar with the different forms of correctional treatment
- Discuss the world of correctional officers
- Understand the cause of prison violence
- Know what is meant by prisoner’s rights and discuss some of the key privileges that have been granted to inmates
- Be knowledgeable about the parole process and the problems of prisoner re-entry
CHAPTER 13
Juvenile Justice in the Twenty-First Century
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Describe the history of juvenile justice
- Discuss the establishment of the juvenile court
- Describe the changes in juvenile justice that began in the 1960s and continue today
- Summarize police processing of juvenile offenders
- Describe the juvenile court process
- Explain the concept of waiver
- Explain the importance of In re Gault
- Describe the juvenile correctional process
CHAPTER 14
Crime and Justice in the New Millennium
After completing this chapter, students will…
- Discuss the impact of criminal enterprise crime
- Describe a ponzi scheme
- Be familiar with a mortgage fraud scandal
- Be familiar with various forms of green crime
- Discuss the various forms of cyber crime
- Know what is being done to thwart cyber criminals
- Be familiar with the influence of globalization on crime
- Understand the concept of transnational crime
- Be familiar with some of the most important transnational crime groups
- Tell how law enforcement is taking on transnational criminal syndicates