Cultural Diversity In Criminal Justice –

cja423

(3 credits)

This course offers a comprehensive, critical and balanced examination of the issues of crime and justice with respect to race and ethnicity. Procedures and policy in a pluralistic and multicultural society are examined relative to law enforcement, courts and corrections environments.

This undergraduate-level course is 5 weeks. To enroll, speak with an Enrollment Advisor.

Topics and Objectives

Race, Ethnicity, Social Structure and Crime
- Define race, ethnicity, disparities and discrimination.
- Examine racial and ethnic categories in the statistical data reported by criminal justice agencies in the United States.
- Understand explanations for disparity and causes of discrimination.
- Analyze the relationship between race, ethnicity, social structure and crime.
Victims and Offenders
- Compare victimization and offender rates for racial and ethic minorities to the rates for whites.
- Examine the role of ethnic youth gangs and the occurrence of hate crimes in the United States.
- Examine the relationship between the police and racial and ethnic minority youth.
The Police and Racial and Ethnic Minorities
- Examine public opinion about the police, comparing the attitudes of Whites, African Americans and Hispanics.
- Identify specific concerns relative to policing particular ethnic communities.
- Examine racial and ethnic disparity and discrimination in police use of force, detentions, searches and seizures.
- Understand officer attitudes, police corruption and citizen complaints relative to race and ethnicity.
- Discuss police employment practices and the law of employment discrimination.
Race, Ethnicity and the Courts
- Understand considerations of race and ethnicity by prosecutors in pretrial decision making and plea bargaining practices.
- Examine disparity and discrimination in bail proceedings and appointment of counsel.
- Explore issues of race and ethnicity in jury selection, trial arguments to the jury and jury nullification.
- Identify explanations for racial disparities in sentencing and effects of sentencing discrimination.
Race, Ethnicity and Corrections
- Understand the issue of racial discrimination in the application of the death penalty.
- Examine ethnic, racial and gender overrepresentation of American correctional populations.
Contemporary Cultural Diversity Issues in Criminal Justice
- Debate the efficacy of jury nullification when premised on race and ethnicity considerations.
- Debate whether the Criminal Justice System discriminates against racial and ethnic minorities.
- Examine contemporary issues raising disparity and discrimination of racial and ethnic minorities in the Criminal Justice System.

The University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses.
While widely available, not all programs are available in all locations or in both online and on-campus formats. Please check with a University Enrollment Advisor.
Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm whether or not credits earned at University of Phoenix will be accepted by another institution of the student’s choice.

Cultural Diversity In Criminal Justice –

cja423

Race, Ethnicity, Social Structure and Crime

Victims and Offenders

The Police and Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Race, Ethnicity and the Courts

Race, Ethnicity and Corrections

Contemporary Cultural Diversity Issues in Criminal Justice

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