Criminal Justice (CJA)

Presents an overview of the fundamentals of research design in criminal justice. Students will learn how to design, conduct, and communicate ethical scientific research. A focus will be placed on academic writing and oral communication as an iterative process.A grade of C or better in this course fulfills the GWAR requirement for all Criminal Justice majors and minors.

Offered Fall, Spring

Political, cultural, and social environment of criminal justice administration; police community relations; accountability of criminal justice agencies to the political and legal order.

Offered Fall, Spring

Prerequisites: MAT 105, MAT 131, MAT 132 or MAT 195 is required. Explores statistical procedures used for the analysis of data by criminal justice professionals. Instruction on the most commonly used applications of statistical analysis in the administration of justice, including review of mathematics and statistical functions and the use of statistics by criminal justice decision makers. An introduction to computer applications will also be provided.

Offered Fall, Spring

Local, state, and federal judicial systems; constitutional, judicial and legislative influences on the administration of justice.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examines theories of crime and criminal justice policy. Covers definitions of crime, its measurement, and patterns across time and place. This is used to evaluate historical and contemporary politics in criminal justice administration.

Offered Fall, Spring

Role and nature of administrative law, procedural requirements and judicial review of administrative actions, safeguards against arbitrary action, delegation of legislative power, legal principles and trends in the development of public administration.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examination of the law of criminal culpability, parties to crime, defenses, and sentencing issues. Critical analysis of types of crime, elements of specific crimes, theories of criminal law, and issues pertaining to its application by the criminal justice system.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examination of the administration of juvenile justice, including juvenile justice policies and procedures, and components of the juvenile justice system. Critical analysis of the theory and dynamics of how the juvenile justice system responds to juvenile issues, including delinquent behavior.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examination of policing in the United States. Critical analysis of theories of policing, police administration, and police obligations and responsibilities under the law. Analysis of historical and contemporary approaches to police-community relations.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examination of contemporary terrorism and extremism. Critical analysis of terrorist behavior, typologies of terrorism, and extremism as a foundation for terrorist behavior. Analysis of the role of law enforcement and other public administrative agencies.

Offered Fall, Spring

Explores the history, organization, administration and effects of institutional and community corrections in the United States and abroad. Critically examines the development and implementation of correctional administration through analysis of policy and practice at each level.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examines the scientific basis of forensic science techniques. Students will learn to think critically about forensic science, and the legal and ethical considerations that come with relying on forensic science evidence in the courtroom

Offered Fall, Spring

Scientific research is informing and transforming the practice of investigative interviewing, interrogation, and lie detection. This course reviews this research and the ethical considerations and legal decisions of this work as applied to the practice of criminal justice administration.

Offered Fall, Spring

Criminal Justice administrators are commonly tasked with collecting and assessing eyewitness evidence. Course focuses on the scientific research of eyewitness testimony and the legal decisions on eyewitness evidence as applied to the practice of criminal justice administration.

Offered Fall, Spring

Explores the history, function, principles, policy guidelines and methods of collecting intelligence. Central to this course is the use of intelligence in the United States regarding homeland security, cybersecurity, terrorism, and organized crime investigations.

Offered Fall, Spring

Introduces students to the homeland security environment in the United States. Emphasis is placed on policies and systems designated to prevent, respond to, and mitigate incidents. Discussions critically assess how governments and homeland security agencies respond to domestic threats.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examines the relationship between race/ethnicity, gender, crime, and the criminal justice system, including resulting disparities. We analyze traditional and critical theories of crime, system policies and practices, and the system as a place of work.

Offered Spring

Prerequisites: CJA 339, CJA 340, CJA 342, and CJA 344 are required. CJA 341, CJA 443, CJA 444 and CJA 447 are recommended. The capstone experience synthesizes the CJA student's experience at CSUDH. Integrates CJA coursework with a 120-hour semester-long internship in criminal justice administration. The course provides students with an opportunity to directly apply the knowledge gained in the CJA program to the criminal justice system. Department consent required.

Offered Fall, Spring

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. An intensive study of an issue, concept or technique that is related to criminal justice administration. Repeatable course.

Offered Fall, Spring

Under the direction of a faculty of the discipline, students work in a government or bureaucratic agency of the criminal justice system, applying the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom.

Offered Fall, Spring

This course will introduce students to advance issues relating to the administration of justice from the perspective of the American criminal justice system.  Emphasis will be placed on policy concerns, crime and its causes, the structure of the criminal justice system, and criminal justice procedures.  Special issues in criminal justice will also be reviewed.

Offered Infrequent

This course shall define the scope and boundaries of administrative law within the context of public policy. It will introduce students to major constitutional issues underlying administrative law bodies at the federal, state, and local levels of government.

Offered Fall, Spring

Examination of policing in the US. Critical analysis of theories of policing, police administration, police obligations, ethics, and responsibilities under the law. Analysis of historical / contemporary approaches to ethical community relations.

Offered Fall, Spring

This course will introduce students to contemporary issues in homeland security and terrorism. Emphasis will be placed on foundations of homeland security, threats and vulnerabilities, preparedness / response / recovery, and evolving issues.

Offered Fall, Spring

Prerequisite: Graduate standing. Intensive study of a specialized area or contemporary issues in Criminal Justice Administration (e.g. Homeland Security, Emergency Management, CJA Debates). Three hours of seminar per week. Repeatable course.

Offered Fall, Spring

Prerequisite: Consent of MPA program coordinator. Supervised internship working with a cooperating government agency in a function germane to public administration. Sessions are held to discuss and analyze the problems with which interns are concerned. A written project related to the internship is required. CR/NC grading.

Offered Fall, Spring