PLA Course Subjects

Prior Learning Assessment Course Subjects

criminal justice

More *'s indicate a better match.
Courses 1-10 of 17 matches.
Introduction to Law Enforcement   (AOJ-101)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
The following topics are covered: History and Heritage of Law Enforcement; Criminal Justice System in U.S.; Contemporary Police System in U.S.; Organization and Management of Police; Police Issues, and; Constitutional Law and Legal Precedents.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Explain the definition of crime utilizing the criminal theories, and concepts associated with the sources of crime data, the emerging patterns of criminal activity, costs of crime and the extent of the crime problem in America.Identify and describe the structure and functions of the main components of the criminal justice system: law enforcement, courts, corrections, and juvenile justice.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history, development, structure and function of American police, courts, and corrections. Discuss the process of adjudication.
  • Critically analyze and discuss issues of crime and justice from varying perspectives including the roles of probation, parole, jails, and community corrections; as well as the functions of prisons and jails.
  • Recognize the importance of, and practice of, ethical behavior in a professional criminal justice work setting, both within the agency and within the community.
  • Exhibit strong and effective written and oral communication skills.
  • Identify and assess the general constitutional principles relevant to the administration of justice.
  • Critically consider, analyze, and research special issues in criminology and criminal justice and their effects on society.

 
Introduction to Criminal Justice   (AOJ-102)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
Introduction to Criminal Justice offers an overview of the entire criminal justice system. The focus is on the administration of police, court and correctional agencies, and the decision-making points from the initial investigation or arrest by police to the eventual release of the offender and his/her reentry into society. The emphasis is on the dynamic relationships between the various elements in the system as well as special problem areas.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Describe the major components of the criminal justice system.
  • Discuss the policies and practices of police, courts, and corrections organizations.
  • Explain how crime is defined and measured.
  • Define the various types of American law.
  • Identify the various critical issues facing the criminal justice system.

Available by DSST exam. 
Criminal Justice Problems in Business And Industry   (AOJ-236)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
Techniques and practices that assist private commercial establishments, particularly large industrial plants and department stores, in minimizing losses through security control. Issues that will be covered are physical security, procedural controls special problems such as business and industrial espionage, riots, shoplifting and dishonest employees.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Physical security measures are used to protect facilities against intrusion, espionage, and theft. Identify two (2) measures that could apply to any facility to address the following: (1) deterrence of potential intruders, (2) Distinguish between authorized from unauthorized people. (3) delay and prevent intrusion attempts, (4) detect intrusion and (5) trigger appropriate incident responses.
  • Most often business espionage is committed by employees who obtain a physical document or disks. Discuss security measures of computer access levels.
  • Successful shoplifting require privacy to conceal merchandise. Discuss the following security measures to prevent shoplifting. (1) Minimizing blind spots on the sales floor. (2) Fitting room security measures. (3) Camera Domes on ceilings, and (5) Electronic Article Surveillance (ESA)
  • Discuss the components of an effective Pre-employment screen process
  • Discuss how loss prevention/shrink audits ensure consistent compliance to company policies and procedures related to loss prevention and theft

 
Law and Evidence   (AOJ-243)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
A comprehensive analysis of the rules of evidence. Particular subjects include judicial notice, presumptions, the nature of real and circumstantial evidence, burden of proof, province of court and jury, documentary evidence, hearsay evidence, confessions, admissions, witnesses, and constitutionally protected evidence. Emphasis on evidence in criminal cases.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Evaluate the role of the various components of the criminal justice system and examine all the steps in the pretrial court process that can lead to the termination of a case into a trial, guilty plea, or dismissal.
  • Evaluate the role of the jury, judge, prosecution and defense attorney, and witness and analyze the sequence of events in a typical criminal trial.
  • Evaluate evidence in terms of it being relevant, material, competent, contradictory, or collaborative and analyze how judicial notice and presumptions can act as substitutes for evidence.
  • Assess the competency of children, mentally handicapped people, judges, and jurors as witnesses and evaluate how various relationships fulfill the requirements of the principles of privileged communications.
  • Distinguish the essential characteristics of a lay witness and an expert witness and describe the process for using a witness's recorded recollection as evidence.
  • Assess the exemptions and the exceptions to the rule of hearsay.
  • Distinguish between admissions and confessions and evaluate the requirements of and exceptions to the Miranda warnings.
  • Explain the exceptions to the law of exclusion and identify the conditions when a search and seizure can be considered reasonable.
  • Relate the types of identification procedures with the right to counsel and Due Process clauses and evaluate the reliability of the identification procedures with specific reference to the five factors set forth in the Biggers case.
  • Compare and contrast direct evidence and circumstantial evidence and analyze the circumstances under which prior bad acts, the character of the defendant, and the character of the witness is admissible as evidence.
  • Evaluate the conditions when secondary evidence may be introduced instead of primary evidence and explain the types of evidence that may be requested by the prosecution and defendant before and during the trial.
  • Distinguish among the various photographic and recorded evidence with reference to its admissibility in court and evaluate the three rules for their admissibility.
  • Evaluate how physical objects can be authenticated, introduced, and identified as evidence and assess the process of producing physical evidence in court with specific reference to its collection, marking, storage, preparation for use, and delivery.

 
Criminal Due Process   (AOJ-253)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
Due process is the essence of justice in the American Criminal Justice system. Students will be introduced to the significant constitutional cases which define due process of law in the justice system. Important cases will be read and analyzed. Historical trends in constitutional law will be reviewed. Students will be expected to complete the course with a fundamental understanding of the impact of due process issues on the operation of the American Criminal Justice System.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Analyze and consider constitutional issues and concepts as applied to criminal law.
  • Explore the multitude of 4th Amendment restraints on search and seizure and who these are applied to criminal procedure, from initial contact through prosecution.
  • Understand the 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination and the procedures in place to protect them.
  • Identify issues of due process including legal representation and identification procedures
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the court system of the United States in terms of structure, constitutional issues and historical precedents.
  • Demonstrate an awareness of ethical issues in criminal justice, and how to use ethical reasoning to formulate decisions and promote organizational and professional trust.

 
New Jersey Criminal Code   (AOJ-256)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
Study of substantive criminal laws and judicial opinions with emphasis on the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice to enhance insights into an understanding of the potentialities and limitations on the law as an instrument of social control.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Explain the four levels of criminal culpability.
  • Describe the standard of proof for proving criminal responsibility.
  • Identify the crime of murder and when its elements are complete.
  • Identify the crime of aggravated assault and when its elements are complete.
  • Identify the crime of robbery and when its elements are complete.
  • Identify the crime of burglary and when its elements are complete.
  • Identify the crime of bribery and when its elements are complete.
  • Identify the crime of possession of a controlled dangerous substance and when its elements are complete.

 
Criminal Justice Research Methods   (AOJ-313)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
Criminal Justice Research Methods. Survey of research methods including research design, measurement and sampling, survey, experimental and field methods and data collection and analysis. Emphasis on interpreting and critically evaluating research in criminal justice.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Non-scientific approaches to knowledge
  • Understanding the "Scientific Method"
  • Developing a "Research Proposal"
  • Understanding how to conduct "Survey Research"
  • Develop "Research Questions" appropriate for field research.

 
The American Court System   (AOJ-351)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth look at the American court system. This course explores the dual-court structure of the American criminal court system at both the federal and state levels; the distinctions between the civil and criminal courts; the roles and responsibilities of the various actors within the court process such as prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys in the adversarial system of justice; the various stages involved in the adjudication and disposition of criminal cases; and special issues related to the criminal court system such as the death penalty, juvenile courts, and problem-solving courts.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Explain the historical development, structure, and function of the American courts system, jurisdictional limitations, and process within the criminal justice field.
  • Distinguish the roles and responsibilities of key court system personnel
  • Discuss diversion programs and alternatives to the American Court process
  • Articulate important constitutional guarantees and how the courts role and functions relates to the various components of the criminal justice system
  • Explain the courts role in balancing basic individual rights and social justice views
  • Discuss the role and responsibilities of attorneys, judges and other court personnel in the American court process
  • Articulate the basic American court systems process based on relevant policy theories and law
  • Define and discuss the adjudication process
  • Discuss the role of the U.S. Supreme Court and the process by which it hears and rules upon cases.
  • Explain the general differences between civil and criminal law and related litigation.

 
Search and Seizure   (AOJ-357)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
An intensive study of the law of search and seizure as it affects the private citizen and the law enforcement officer. An in-depth examination of court decisions which have followed criminal cases such as Mapp and Chimel. The rights of the individual and the corresponding obligations of the police officer are explored. Alternatives to the exclusionary rule are considered.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Explain the importance and difference between the "due process" and "crime control" models of American criminal justice.
  • What is the exclusionary rule? Why and why not is it an essential means of ensuring justice?
  • Applying the concept of probable cause, what specifically was considered "unreasonable" about the search and seizure in Mapp v Ohio 367U.S.643 (1961)?
  • An alternative to the exclusionary rule came in 1984 with the U.S. Supreme Court's statement of the "good faith" exception in United States v. Leon 468U.S.897 (1984) Explain the "good faith" exception.
  • Chimel v. California 395 U.S.752(1969) addressed a search incident to a lawful arrest. Summarize the court's decision on police actions related to a search in a home. What circumstance(s) would justify the legal use of the "protective sweep doctrine"?
  • Evaluate the "plain view doctrine" as it relates to a narcotics investigation and subsequent arrest.
  • Describe the probable cause needed to search the interior of a motor vehicle and it's occupant(s) as it relates to a patrol related arrest resulting from a motor vehicle violation stop by a police officer in uniform.

 
The Juvenile Offender   (AOJ-362)   3.00 s.h.  

Course Description
A study of sociological theories of delinquency, legal, and historical backgrounds of delinquency, traditional forms of treatment, and modern approaches. Emphasis is on the juvenile offender in the criminal justice system.

Learning Outcomes
Through the Portfolio Assessment process, students will demonstrate that they can appropriately address the following outcomes:

  • Describe the major elements of the juvenile justice field.
  • Identify categories of juvenile offenders.
  • Explain various theories of delinquencies.
  • Discuss emerging trends in juvenile justice.
  • Explain the intake process.
  • List details about adjudicatory processing.
  • Recognize the qualities of prosecutorial decision making in juvenile justice.
  • Describe the processes used in juvenile justice including classification, preliminary treatments, and waiver

 
Courses 1-10 of 17   |  Next »