Criminal Court System

Masters Degree in Criminal Justice

CJ 665

Breyer State University

Instructor: Charles "Chuck" Fields, Ph.D.

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Criminal Court Systems, a graduate-level course in the Master of Science in Criminal Justice Degree curriculum, addresses the structure, concepts and theories regarding the organization and management of the American criminal court system. Additionally, the roles of the various legal actors in the system, the critical issues that emerge (e.g., fair trial, free press, judicial responsibility, etc.) and the attempts to deal with them will also be discussed.

We will also examine several controversial topics that include prosecuting pregnant drug users, DNA evidence and felony prosecutions, judicial misconduct during jury deliberations, eyewitness identification, cameras in the courtroom and jury room, lawyer incompetence, "Three Strikes and Your Out" laws, corporal punishment, and capital punishment for juvenile offenders.

TIME FRAME: This is a four (4) semester hour course. The course and all exams and/or assignments must be completed within ten weeks. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course or the day that you advise me that your textbooks have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies. Please be cognizant of the time frame as extensions are very rare without special circumstances. Upon successful completion of this course you will be awarded four (4) semester hours of credit. You may accelerate and finish the course prior to the ten-week mark, but not in less than five weeks. There is no mandate to accelerate; it is simply an option if you are able to devote extra time to this course.

TEXTBOOKS: There are two (2) required textbooks for this course:

Book 1: Criminal Courts: Structure, Process, and Issues. Rabe, Gary, and Dean John Champion (2001) ISBN : 13189794.

Book 2: Criminal Courts for the 21st Century (2nd Edition). Stolzenberg, Lisa, & Stewart J. D'Alessio Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. (2001) ISBN : 0130912891.

Additionally, there is some material you must obtain via the internet (download and print; no charge to you). Please obtain the textbook and other materials listed below as soon as possible.

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From the Internet:

( Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2000, , NCJ 19882 [June, 2003]).

ASSIGNMENTS: By the fifth week of class, you should have read the assigned texts and the internet materials, and be prepared for the exams. By the tenth week, you must have completed your paper.

EXAMINATION/FINAL PAPER: There is a midterm (completed by the fifth week) and a final examination (completed during week 9). Each will consist of several (18-20) short essay questions that demonstrate your understanding of the assigned readings from the texts and internet sources. Additionally, a fifteen-twenty (15-20) page final paper will be written that will address the following questions:

1). Most of use realize that there are numerous problems facing the American criminal court system today and that the solutions to these problems are seldom (if ever) easy. In your opinion and based in your reading for this and other criminal justice courses, what is the most critical issue facing courts in the U.S. today? Be sure to support your answer with specific examples.
2). What would you propose as solutions to the most critical and serious that you identified above? Be specific and use examples where appropriate.
3). The situations we are experiencing in the courts did not just happen overnight. Looking over the past few decades or so, what are some (discuss at least 3) of the things we could have done differently so that the current crises would not have occurred (or at least would not be as serious).

Upon your request, I will e-mail the examinations to you and once you complete each (within one week from the time I send it to you), send it as an e-mail attachment back to me (address below). The paper is due by the tenth week of class (send to me also via e-mail attachment). Both the midterm and final examinations, and the final paper will be graded within one week of my receiving them.

GRADING: Final grades for this course will be computed as follows:

90-100%    - A
80-89%      - B
70-79%      - C
Below 70% - Fail

Midterm Exam (25% of final grade)
Final Exam      (25% of final grade)
Final Paper      (50% of final grade)

ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: In addition to teaching in the program at Breyer State University, Charles Fields is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University where his teaching interests include penology, drug policy, and comparative and international criminal justice. He has a B.A. (Political Science, 1980) & M.A. (Political Science, 1981) from Appalachian State University and a Ph.D. (Criminal Justice Theory, 1984) from Sam Houston State University. His previous teaching posts include Saginaw Valley State University (MI), Appalachian State University (NC), California State University , San Bernardino (Department Chair of Criminal Justice), and Eastern Kentucky University (Department Chair of Correctional and Juvenile Justice Studies). He has also been a visiting lecturer at the University of Lapland and the Police College of Finland. Professor Fields is the author or co-author of four edited books, over thirty articles, book chapters and reviews, and numerous technical reports and monographs. Current research interests include international drug policy, comparative criminal justice systems, and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: After completing this course, you will be able to:

1). Understand the structure of state and federal criminal courts in the U.S.
2). Understand those issues relating to law and the courts that are among the most critical.
3). Debate these issues effectively and convincingly.
4). Understand, in an historical sense, how these controversies developed and their effect on the contemporary court system.
5). Develop viable solutions to these many problems.
6). Understand the evolution of the various legal and judicial philosophies that have developed in the United States.
7). Identify the various actors within the criminal court system and associated responsibilities.
8). Describe the daily operation of a typical criminal court.

INFORMATION: If you have any questions regarding this program, you may contact the instructor at chuck.fields@eku.edu.

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