Law/Court System Symposium

Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice

CJL 485

Breyer State University

Instructor: Chuck Fields, Ph.D.

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Law/Court System Symposium, an undergraduate-level course in the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Degree curriculum, is the culmination of the sequence of courses in the Law/Court System Track. This course will provide you an overview of many of the most controversial issues and problems facing us today. Because there are so many of these that deserve attention, we will spend less time on the more general issues, and more on those that are the most critical and controversial.

TIME FRAME: This is a twenty (20) 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 twenty (20) 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 (2) required textbooks for this course:

Book 1: Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy. Posner, Richard A. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2003. ISBN # 0674010817.


Book 2: Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court Versus the American People. Raskin, Jamin B. New York: Routledge Publishers. 2003. ISBN # 0415934397.

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

	» Click Here to Enter
» Additional Student Resources at StudyTactics

ASSIGNMENTS: By the fifth week of class, you should have read the assigned text and be familiar with the internet materials. By the eighth week, you may submit an outline of the paper to me for feedback if you so desire. By the tenth week, I should have received your final paper.

EXAMINATION/FINAL PAPER: There will a examination for this course (completed by the fifth week) which will consist of several (18-20) short essay questions that demonstrate your understanding of the assigned readings, and a eighteen-twenty (18-20) page final paper that will address the following questions:

(1) Most of use realize there are numerous problems facing us in the legal/judicial system today and 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 and justice 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 you identified above? Be specific and use examples where appropriate.

(3) The situations we are experiencing in the legal/courts system 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 exam to you and once you complete it (within one week from the time I send it to you), attach it as an e-mail back to me. The paper is due by the tenth week of class (send to me also via e-mail attachment). Both the midterm and the final paper will be graded within one week of receiving them.

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

Excellent (90-100%)        - A
Above Average (80-89%) - B
Average (70-79%)           - C
Poor (below 70%)            - Fail

Midterm Exam (50% 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: Upon completion this course, you should be able to:

1). Understand those issues relating to law and the courts that are among the most critical.
2). Debate these issues effectively and convincingly.
3). Understand, in an historical sense, how these controversies developed and their effect on contemporary society.
4). Develop viable solutions to these many problems
5). Understand the evolution of the various legal and judicial philosophies that have developed in the United States.

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