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Criminal Justice
Lester Pincu, Lead Discipline Faculty
California State University, Fresno
Summary of Identified
Issues
On November 17, we met in Oakland with the Bay Area region
participants. Our discussions dealt with identifying possible
lower division Administration of Justice courses that might
be uniformly accepted as the basis of a core curriculum in
our field. Faculty at that meeting identified five areas:
· Introduction to the Administration of Justice (CAN
AJ2);
· Criminal Law (CAN AJ4);
· Evidence (CAN AJ6); and
· Investigation (CAN AJ8).
It was consensus of the participating faculty that a fifth
course was needed as part of any core in our field:
· Community Relations/Cultural Diversity (no CAN number
at present)
On December 1, 2001, we met with participants in San Diego.
Participating faculty there recommended the following:
· Introductory course (CAN AJ2) be kept as is.
· AJ 4 be called "Concepts of Criminal Law"
and be a generic introduction, and not focus solely on the
California Penal Code, as many courses currently do.
· Evidence (CAN AJ 6); and
· Investigation (CAN AJ8) was also recommended for retention
as part of a core curriculum.
Three additional courses were recommended:
· Criminal Procedure;
· Written and Oral Communication in Administration of
Justice, and
· Community Relations and Cultural Diversity
On December 15th we met with a group from the Central Valley
in Fresno. After discussion of what the previous groups had
recommended, it was decided by the Fresno group that an ideal
core should consist of:
· Introduction to the Administration of Justice (AJ2);
· Introduction to Law (CAN AJ4) (This class should be
rewritten to emphasize a generic introduction to law, common
law, legal concepts, introduction to codes);
· Principles of Investigations (CAN AJ8);
· Writing for Criminal Justice (A new CAN course that
this group of faculty felt should be an essential part of
the core); and
· Cultural Diversity and Community Relations (a new course
that would include an introduction to concepts in Community
Relations, CJ ethics, hate crimes, sensitivity to diverse
populations, interpersonal communication, racial, gender,
cultural, sub-cultural, sexual orientation, profiling and
discrimination).
· The Fresno faculty recommended felt as an accepted
elective but not part of the core:
· Evidence (CAN AJ6). The course should include: legal
aspects of evidence, hearsay, search and seizure, privilege,
burden of proof, and bail.
The faculty also felt that a course in Constitutional Law
should be an elective.
On January 5, 2002 we met in Sacramento. Faculty there agreed
with all of the other regions that a core must consist of
· Introduction to CJ class;
· Introduction to Law; and
· Investigation; and
· Community Relations and the CJ system.
They also agreed with the group in the Central valley that
"Evidence" should be part of an elective package,
but not the core (as opposed to San Diego and Oakland groups
who felt that Evidence should be part of a core).
There was also a major discussion as to what should be included
in each course. Sacramento recommended that AJ 4 should include:
common law, and penal (or statutory) law, civil versus criminal,
elements of crime, concepts and terminology of criminal law,
and history and development of law. AJ 8 should include the
development of students' skills in pro-active and re-active
investigation techniques; overt methodology of investigation,
and should not focus on investigating specific crimes. The
Diversity and Community Relations course should be entitled
Communities and the Justice System.
On January 19 we met in Cerritos with the "Metro"
region faculty. We also had the opportunity to have an Articulation
Officer present and participate as part of our discussions.
In our discussion of an "ideal" major core of 12-15
units, the following was recommended as part of the core:
· Introduction to the Administration of Justice (CAN
AJ2) (to serve as a prerequisite to all other AJ courses,
though they were not supportive of or in agreement about the
necessity of a two part section of the introductory course);
· Introduction to Law (CAN AJ4)
· Writing class (with accountability)
· Community Relations/ Diversity/ Human Relations course
(to be CANned)
As an elective course:
· Investigation (AJ8).
Identified Trends/Future
Directions
It was clear from all of the regional groups that writing
was an area in which our students were not well prepared.
Another area of concern that came up in most of the regional
meetings was the need for some type of class in diversity
that would raise criminal justice students' awareness of cultural
differences and diverse populations.
Comments from Statewide Meetings and the General Field
Please see the summary of identified issues.
Recommendations
for the Discipline
It is recommended that updated course descriptors be developed
for all of the recommended and required lower-division courses.
This would be of great assistance to the community colleges
that prepare students for transfer to four-year institutions
and would set a standard for these institutions.
Recommendations
for Support Courses (if discussed)
There is a real need for writing courses in our field that
focus on basic writing skills with special emphasis on the
language and concepts of the field. There is also the need
for courses in critical thinking and diversity issues that
use as examples discipline-related subject matter.
Topics for Further
Discussion
Some of the four-year institutions, especially those that
do not have lower-division courses in the major, are reluctant
to agree to a common core they believe would be "imposed"
upon them. Additional discussion among representatives of
these institutions will be a goal for subsequent years.
Recommendations Forwarded
None at this time
IMPAC Outreach
Presentations Made by Members of this Group
None at this time.
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