CCJ302 Introduction to Criminal Justice Administration

CCJ302 Introduction to Criminal Justice Administration Instructor: Matthew Giblin, PhD Time & Location: ONLINE (August 24-December 18) COURSE DESCRIPTION The SIUC catalog describes this course as, an introduction to the principles of administration and organization of criminal justice agencies. The course content is derived primarily from the vast body of literature on organization theory and behavior. Theories and research will be discussed and applied to the study of police, judicial, and correctional agencies. Several themes shape the content of this course. The first centers on organizations as a whole where the focus is on the structure and environment of criminal justice organizations, organizational change, and organizational accidents. The second theme addresses the behavior of individuals and groups within organizations, focusing on topics such as employee motivation, occupational stress, leadership, power, and socialization. COURSE OBJECTIVES Students successfully completing this course will have a broad understanding of organizational theory and behavior as it applies to criminal justice organizations. Specifically, you will be able to: 1. Provide a definition of organizations and understand the role of complex organizations in society, generally, and the criminal justice system, specifically. 2. Offer potential explanations for the structural arrangements and activities of criminal justice organizations, focusing on environmental pressures and organizational outcomes. 3. Discuss theories of motivation, factors that decrease productivity, and how the work of criminal justice employees can be designed to enhance individual and agency performance. 4. Describe power and leadership and the relationship between supervisors and subordinates. Moreover, students will be able to apply these same concepts to the relationship between front-line criminal justice personnel and their clients. The former building of the Highland Park (MI) Police Department, an agency that was disbanded in 2001 though reestablished in 2007 (photo by Thomas Hawk) 5. Understand the process of and impediments to organizational change and the role that social science research plays in such a process. 1

COURSE MATERIALS Giblin, Matthew J. (2014). Organization and management in the criminal justice system: A text/reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. The text is available for purchase (new or used) and rental for as little as $25. A copy is also available on reserve in the library if you choose not to obtain your own copy. Students should also have access to a high speed internet connection on campus, at home, at a local library, or at some other venue (e.g., coffee shop, McDonalds). Course lectures and PowerPoint slides are delivered by streaming video (similar to YouTube). This requires a substantial amount of bandwidth. An insufficient or unreliable internet connection will not be considered an excuse for failing to complete coursework. Test your connection during the drop/add period. If you do not have access to a high-speed connection or if you have very restrictive data caps, you should reconsider taking the online version of this course. CONTACT INFORMATION Dr. Matthew Giblin, Associate Professor Phone: 453-6360 Email: mgiblin@siu.edu Office: Faner Hall 4325 Course Website: online.siu.edu (SIU Online/D2L) Office Hours Tuesday, 1:00pm-3:00pm and Wednesday, 9:00am- 1:00pm. I am in my office frequently. Feel free to stop in whenever I am in my office. GRADING The course grade will have five broad components: Expectations quiz Twelve chapter quizzes (@ 25 points each) Comprehensive final exam (@ 50 points) Article review (@ 50 points) Union exercise (@ 75 points) 25 points 300 points 50 points 50 points 75 points Final grades will be assigned based on the total number of points accumulated: 450-500 points A 400-449 points B 350-399 points C 300-349 points D Below 300 points F COURSE FORMAT The course is entirely web-based. This affords students the flexibility of not having to attend class each day during the semester but the course still retains some structure. The course is divided into 8 due dates. The first represents an orientation to the course, including expectations. The last includes a comprehensive final exam. In between, there are six due dates, each covering two textbook topics. Deadlines for unit material will always be on a Friday at 8:00pm. It is essential that you develop an appropriate pace. If you fall behind, you will find it very difficult to catch up. What are your responsibilities for each due date? The answer is below: 1. WATCH ONLINE LECTURES: Each topic (12 total for the course, not including the course expectations video) will be accompanied by an online lecture that combines a PowerPoint presentation (essentially, a screen capture of my computer as I walk through the presentation) with a video lecture. The material is synced together on a single screen so you can move around the video as necessary. Online lectures will last approximately 60-90 minutes (some more, some less) and may be split into multiple videos as necessary. In addition, some will be supplemented by additional short internet videos relevant to the topic. These supplemental videos are also 2

critical. Should you take notes as you would in a normal class? Absolutely! These notes will help you when preparing for and taking quizzes. 2. READ THE TEXTBOOK: Each topic is accompanied by a reading from the course text. The lectures and readings are complementary. While there is some overlap, you will find that the text adds to the lectures and the lectures add to the text. You will find the readings helpful in your understanding of course concepts. Please pay attention to the volume of readings within each topic. Again, pacing is key. Pay attention to key terms not just memorizing them but their relevance or application as well as the in-text articles. How do the articles presented in the text help us understand core concepts? 3. QUIZZES: After watching the online videos and reading the text for a topic, you will take a quiz. Each quiz will be composed of 21 multiple choice, true/false, matching, and/or fill-in-the-blank questions and one short answer question (25 points total). A significant number of items for every quiz will be drawn from the class readings; the remainder will come from the lecture and/or supplemental videos. In an online format, there is no way to prevent students from using course materials (e.g., textbook or notes) during the quiz. However, preparation is still critical. You must study notes and readings just like you would for any class. All quizzes will be timed 25 minutes per quiz. The amount of time allotted for each quiz is enough to allow students to finish without rushing but not enough to allow students to spend much time, if any, looking over notes, readings, or other sources. You are required to work independently on quizzes (see academic dishonesty policy). A couple of important notes: a. You only get one chance to complete each quiz. Once you log into a quiz, you have until the quiz time is over or you submit your responses, whichever occurs first. You may not log out and restart or continue taking a quiz. Therefore, you should avoid having multiple windows open or clicking around SIU Online/D2L while taking the quiz as this may cause you to erroneously log out of the exam. Once the time has expired, you will no longer be able to save answers. At that point, you will only be able to submit your quiz. Points will be deducted from any quiz completed/submitted after the 8:00pm due times. b. To ensure independent assessments, the quiz questions will be drawn randomly from a pool of relevant questions. In other words, students will not necessarily receive the same quiz items. However, the quiz content, regardless of the questions selected, will cover the material from the lectures and the readings. c. To further ensure independent assessments, quiz questions will be presented one at a time. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you study for all quizzes. You cannot count on looking up material as you go along. d. TAKE THE QUIZZES EARLY. Do not wait until an hour before they are due. No excuses will be accepted for failing to complete the quiz; lack of an internet connection, an illness on the day the quiz is due, computer problems, or other excuses will generally not be considered. The quizzes are available well in advance. In addition, if you encounter troubles, I can help if you began the process earlier in the period. I will not entertain any excuses related to quiz problems emailed on the due date. Start early! e. In most cases, quiz grades will be posted to the gradebook soon after completing the quiz. However, you will not be able to review answers until after the due date. Answers will remain available for viewing for one week following each due date. Click your quizzes then attempts. Each of the items 1-3 above describes tasks per topic. That means that you will repeat these steps twice for each of the due dates of the course since there are two topics per due date. In addition, you will also complete the following: 4. FINAL EXAM: During final exam week, you will complete a comprehensive exam covering material learned throughout the semester. The exam will address many of the main points covered during class. You will have 30 minutes to complete the exam. Items will include multiple choice, true/false, matching, fill in the blank-type questions, and/or short answer questions. The specific format will be provided before finals week. 3

5. ARTICLE REVIEW: Using the How to Read a Research Article portion of the text as a guide (pgs. 33-34 and accompanying article), you will complete a review of an article provided to you by Dr. Giblin. The assignment likely 2-3 pages in length is due on October 2. Additional details will be provided in an assignment sheet. 6. UNION ASSIGNMENT: You will complete a 3-4 page paper outlining a position on the following statement: Police officers should not be allowed to unionize. The paper will be written as if you are providing a legislative memo. You will consult the research studies, news stories, and actual collective bargaining agreements (search online). The assignment is due on November 20. An assignment sheet will be provided with full details. I do not provide opportunities for make-up work or late submissions unless official documentation is provided describing the need to miss the entire 2-3 week period. Students who begin work early should have no problem completing assignments and quizzes. Overall, you can see what is due by checking the calendar/events portion of the course homepage (left side of the screen) and by clicking on the content browser entries. In the content browser, course material is organized into the units/deadlines. Grades for all course materials will be posted soon after each due date, if not sooner. PROFESSIONALISM York College of Pennsylvania s Center for Professional Excellence regularly conducts surveys on the state of professionalism in the workplace. I have structured some classroom guidelines around the idea of professionalism as noted in the survey in an effort to link classroom behavior/habits to successful workplace behavior/habits. 1. Accept responsibility for your actions. It has been my experience that many students who fall short of a higher grade by a few points at the end of the semester do so because of missed assignments or discussions. Instead of asking for extra points at the end of the semester, accept responsibility for the decisions you made earlier in the semester. I do not make a habit of bumping up students at the end of the semester, even if they are within a couple of points of a higher grade. There are plenty of opportunities to earn points. 2. Communicate respectfully. Students should feel free to express their opinions in class. However, state your opinions in a socially responsible way. I will not always agree with your opinion, nor will you necessarily agree with mine. This is perfectly okay. What is important is that we create an atmosphere of respect within the classroom and engage in a dialogue wherein key topics can be addressed. 3. Our interactions are important but limited. When you have something to say, either through email or through the discussion board, I assure you I will give you my attention. I simply ask that you do the same. 4. Practice solid communication etiquette. I view emails and discussion posts as official correspondences between the student and instructor (and between students, in the case of discussion boards). Therefore, you should compose your emails/posts with the proper amount of professionalism (e.g., proper salutation and signature in emails, sentence structure). I reserve the right to ignore carelessly or unprofessionally composed email messages (e.g., textspeak or text-ese). If you do not hear from me in a timely manner, please check the composition of your email. As a general rule, I do not appreciate being referred to as hey in written correspondence. Similarly, I generally do not respond to emails that lack a signature line; email addresses do not always identify the sender. 5. If you make the effort, I will reciprocate. If you need help, ask for it and I will do the best I can to provide guidance. 6. Act with integrity. According to the SIU Student Conduct Code, acts of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to: 1) plagiarism; 2) preparing work with the knowledge or intention that it may be represented as the work of another; 3) sharing or disseminating tests, notes, slides, presentations, recordings, or any other material which is the intellectual property of an instructor of the university without prior approval; and 4) soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or attempting acts of academic dishonesty. Academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Any act of academic misconduct will, at minimum, result in a zero for the assignment or examination. In addition, the instructor may commence formal or informal disciplinary action as outlined in the Student Conduct Code. If misconduct is substantiated, the student could, depending upon the circumstances of the case, face one or more 4

disciplinary sanctions up to and including suspension from the university. Please consult the Student Conduct Code for more information. RECOMMENDATIONS I have now taught a number of online classes and have noticed some things that keep students from doing well in my courses. I thought I would share a few bad habits that will surely get you into trouble at the end of the course. The hope is that you will avoid these habits: 1. Not watching videos: Frankly, I am amazed by the number of students who do not watch the lecture videos. This is the equivalent of not attending class. If you think you can succeed in a class by just showing up for class on exam day, by all means, skip the videos. My experience has been that this does not work out. RECOMMENDATION #1: Watch all lecture videos; this is the online equivalent of attending class. 2. Not studying for exams: It is very tempting when the quizzes are taken online and at home to avoid studying. After all, you can simply look up answers in the text or in your notes (assuming you watched the videos!). This is a poor strategy. The quizzes are timed. You have 30 minutes to quizzes. This does not leave you much time to do anything other than complete the exam. RECOMMENDATION #2: Study thoroughly. You will be able to answer most questions quickly as a result. If you have a couple of minutes left over at the end, look up the two or three questions you do not know in your notes. 3. Not completing the work: You cannot succeed if you do not complete assignments or quizzes. RECOMMENDATION #3: Complete all of the work. 4. Not saving quiz answers: Six times in five semesters, students have neglected to save their quiz answers questionby-question. Unfortunately, they ran out of time and the quiz automatically submitted. Guess what? No answers were saved. Similarly, one student faced a computer crash but did not save any answers. RECOMMENDATION #4: Save each answer as you go so those answers are recorded in the event of something catastrophic or if time expires. 5. Waiting until the last minute: The course is designed to afford you some flexibility. However, it is still a semester s worth of work. You must pace yourself. You cannot expect to successfully complete topics on the due date. Last semester, students who completed quizzes on the last day scored 1.5 letter grades lower on quizzes than students who completed quizzes on any other day. RECOMMENDATION #5: Figure out a schedule that works best for you. If you avoid these bad habits and follow the recommendations, I think you will find the class both rigorous and enjoyable. Best of luck to each of you! 5

SCHEDULE Note: This syllabus is designed to reflect the fundamental requirements of the course; however, unanticipated circumstances may require some modification of the syllabus and/or schedule (e.g., dropping topics). The right to make changes is reserved by the instructor. Due date Topic Lecture (readings) Quiz Assignment September 4 Course expectations Expectations video (syllabus) Expectations quiz September 18 1: Introduction to organizations 2: Organizational structure Lecture 1 (pgs. 1-15) Lecture 2 (pgs. 15-32; 50-80) Quiz 1 Quiz 2 October 2 3: Organizational theory 4: Organizational deviance Lecture 3 (pgs. 81-128) Lecture 4 (pgs. 129-145; 161-173) Quiz 3 Quiz 4 Article review October 23 November 6 November 20 December 11 December 18 5: Interagency collaboration Lecture 5 (pgs. 174-189) Quiz 5 6: Unions Lecture 6 (pgs. 224-273) Quiz 6 7: Socialization Lecture 7 (pgs. 274-316) Quiz 7 8: Motivation & job design Lecture 8 (pgs. 317-337; 347-364) Quiz 8 9: Stress and burnout Lecture 9 (pgs. 378-428) Quiz 9 10: Leadership Lecture 10 (pgs. 429-467) Quiz 10 11: Power Lecture 11 (pgs. 480-533) Quiz 11 12: Organizational change Lecture 12 (pgs. 534-583) Quiz 12 Final exam Union assignment 6