Criminal Justice Integration – CJUS 500

Course Description

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Rationale

This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the criminal justice context for the student who is not familiar with it—corrections, courts, and the police force. It also requires the student to work on further peer-reviewed research of each area and to apply biblical concepts to a synthesis of ideas while demonstrating a basic competency in reasoning, writing, and research skills.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (4)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to create a thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. Each thread must be at least 500 words, include at least 2 peer-reviewed sources cited in current APA format, and demonstrate course-related knowledge. In addition to the thread, the student is required to reply to 2 other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 200 words, include at least 1 peer-reviewed source published within the last 5-10 years, and be cited in current APA format.

Quizzes (4)

The student will complete quizzes within the third party platform, Connect Plus. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes and the grade will transfer to Canvas.

Read & Interact Assignments (4)

Within this course, students will be required to read and interact with the textbook within the third party platform, SmartBook. Students must complete each reading and item in the textbook in order to earn the points associated with the assigned reading and prior to completing any Homework Assignment. 

Article Critique Assignments (3)

For each Article Critique, the student must select 2 peer-reviewed articles published within the last 5-10 years. Using concepts presented in the weekly Learn items, the student must write a 4-7-page (double-spaced) critique of each of these articles in current APA format. The title page, abstract, and reference pages are excluded from the page deliverable length.

Synthesis Paper Assignment

The student must write an 8-page double-spaced research-based paper in current APA format that focuses on a recent, relevant criminal justice issue in the area of either police, courts, or corrections. The required 8 pages for this paper excludes the title, abstract, or reference pages. The paper must propose a solution to the assigned issue and include how this solution fits into the worldview of Liberty University, which seeks to train criminal justice leaders to influence criminal justice policy within a Christian worldview. The paper must include at least 8 peer-reviewed sources published within the last 5-10 years.