CRJU - C718-081
Seminar in Criminal Justice Administration I
Ronal W. Serpas, Ph.D. (Serpas@loyno.edu)COURSE MEETING TIME:
Stallings Room 105, 865-2694
City College, 865-3530
Friday 6pm-10pm; Saturday 9am-5pmCOURSE DESCRIPTION:
February 9-10; March 16-17; April 6-7
This course will provide an in-depth review of planning and financial management in criminal justice organizations. Topics include: funding sources of local, state, and federal governments; request and use of public funds; planning and preparation of budgets; public relations and the political context of criminal justice planning and budgeting.
This course examines the interactive process of planning and financial management in a public sector (criminal justice) organization. At the conclusion of this course, students will have an in-depth understanding of how government’s receive revenue and how these revenues are allocated and accounted for. A thorough analysis of the process of budgeting in the public sector as well as the process of planning and programming to meet budgetary goals and objectives will be reviewed.
COURSE TEXT (required): Mikesell, J.L. (1997). Fiscal Administration: Analysis and Applications for the Public Sector, 5th Edition. The Dorsey Press: Chicago, IL.
SUPPLEMENTAL (REQUIRED) READINGS (to be provided by instructor):
Denhardt, R. B. (1995). Public Administration: An Action Orientation, 2nd Edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company: Belmont, CA.
Dye, T. R. (1995). Understanding Public Policy, 8th Edition. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Gaines, L.K., M.D. Southerland, and J.E. Angell. (1991). Police Administration. McGraw-Hill, Inc.: New York, NY.
Straussman, J. D. (1990). Public Administration, 2nd Edition. Longman: White Plains, NY.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: Students will be graded on the following -
(1) research paper;GRADING SCALE:
(2) a midterm exam;
(3) a final exam; and,
(4) class participation.
A = 95-UP; B+ = 90-94; B = 85-89; C+ = 80-84;C = 75-79; D+ = 70-74; D = 64-69; F = 63 - BELOW
PERCENTAGE OF COURSE REQUIREMENTS TO FINAL GRADE:
Each student will review, outline, and present to the class at least one of the assigned readings, or other suitable reading as required. The written outline shall be presented to the instructor, with a copy for each student in the class. The verbal and written presentations will be graded for content, grammar, insight, and presentation.
Each student will critique at least six (6) academic journal articles relating to the subjects of this class. Three of the critiques will be due and presented to the class on the evening of the Mid-Term examination, and three of the critiques will be due and presented to the class on the evening of the Final Examination. Students will be required to provide a copy of their critiques to the other students and the instructor on the evening of the class. These critiques, respectively, will serve as the Mid-Term and Final Examination grades. The critiques should be at least a minimum of 4-5 pages, TYPED and double-spaced. The critiques should follow the format of the attached sample critique found in the appendix of this syllabus.
A research paper will be required for this class. The ability of students to research an idea or position, and then produce a document to support their work, is fundamental to collegiate and professional performance. The paper should, ideally, allow the student the opportunity to research a particular aspect of the Criminal Justice System. The paper should be typed and doubled spaced. The paper must be a minimum of twenty pages, not including cover sheet, end notes and bibliography.
Students are to submit a written research topic (Title) for instructor approval before beginning any work on the paper. The due date for topic submission is listed in the syllabus.
There should be at least twenty sources cited in the paper (not merely in the bibliography section). These sources should be academic articles or books, not popular publications such as Newsweek or Time Magazine. While these sources of information may provide useful information for the paper, they will not count toward the ten cited sources necessary for the paper. Students are reminded that the Loyola Library has excellent Criminal Justice resource material readily available, and an excellent staff to help in research techniques.
Students should use accepted forms of recognizing the sources of their research (foot note, end note, APA, MLA, etc.). It is the student’s choice as to the exact writing style that will be used. Students are encouraged to use the resources of the WAC lab, and the library for assistance. Note: It is strongly encouraged that students use the APA style in writing the research paper.
Papers that are not an original typed or computer generated will not be accepted. In particular, photocopied pages, different typeface style or paper, inserted pages, etc. will be cause for potential failure of this course requirement. Students must write original papers to fulfill this course requirement. The recycling of a previously submitted paper is NOT acceptable.
Please staple the research paper in the left upper corner, binding of any kind is not required and specifically should be avoided.
The research paper due date is listed in the syllabus. Papers not turned in at the beginning of class on the due date will be reduced by at least one full letter grade. All papers not received by the beginning of the following class will receive the grade of F. No papers will be accepted after the final class of the term. Even if the tardiness of the paper may cause an F grade for this course requirement, students must still write and acceptable paper to avoid failing the entire course.
The following list gives examples of journals that contain articles useful for many topics. There are other criminal justice, history, law, psychology, and sociology journals that also contain relevant articles. Your references must come from journals of this type, or appropriate (subject) text, to receive credit. Note: publications such as, Police Chief, FBI Bulletin, Time, etc., are not academic journals.
American Bar Foundation Research Journal
American Sociological Review
Crime and Delinquency
Criminal Justice Policy Review
Criminal Justice Review
Criminal Law Bulletin
Criminology
International Journal of Criminology and Penology
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice
Journal of Crime and Justice
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency
Judicature
Justice Quarterly
Justice System Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems
Law and Human Behavior
Law and Social Inquiry
Law and Policy Quarterly
Law and Society Review
Social Problems
Sociological Quarterly
Class attendance is required; the roster will be read at the beginning of each class. Excessive absence will result in grade loss. Class begins promptly at the scheduled start time. Students will not be allowed to audiotape the lectures.
Students should read the corresponding chapter to each assignment and be prepared to respond to the learning objectives listed below BEFORE class -
1. Introduction and overview of the course
2. Dye, Chapter 1: Policy Analysis: What Governments Do, Why They Do It, and What Difference It Makes.
3. Dye, Chapter 4: Criminal Justice: Rationality and Irrationality In Public Policy.
4. Dye, Chapter 9: Economic Policy: Incrementalism at Work.
5. Straussman, Chapter 7: Government Budgeting.
6. Gaines, et al., Chapter 12: Planning, Programming and Budgeting.
7. Mid Term Examination (Three critiques due for class presentation)
8. Denhardt, Chapter 5: Budgeting and Financial Management.
9. Mikesell, Chapter 8: Major Tax Structures - Taxes on Goods and Services.
10. Mikesell, Chapter 9: Major Tax Structures - Property Taxes.
11. Mikesell, Chapter 10: Revenue From Users Fees, User Charges, and Sales of Pubic Monopolies.
12. Mikesell, Chapter 11: Collecting Taxes.
13. Mikesell, Chapter 12: Revenue Forecasting, Revenue Estimating, and Tax Expenditure Budgets.
14. Final Exam (Three critiques due for class presentation)
Bird, Richard. (1992). Tax Policy and Economic Development. Johns Hopkins Press: Baltimore.
Bland, Robert, and Rubin, Irene. (1997). Budgeting - A Guide for Local Governments. International City/County Management Association: Washington, DC.
Clark, Nicholas, and Ferguson, Lorma. (1983). City Money. Columbia University Press: New York.
Cogan, John. (1994). The Budget Puzzle, Understanding Federal Spending. Stanford University Press: Sanford, CA.
Garner, William. (1991). Accounting and Budgeting in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, A Managers Guide. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
Hilke, John. (1992). Competition in Government Financed Services. Quorum Books: New York.
Hushbeck, Clare. (1993). Public Employee Pension Funds: Retirement Security for Plan Participation or Cash Cow for State Governments? American Association of Retired Persons Public Policy Institute Report 9301: Washington, DC.
Hyde, Albert, ed. (1992). Governmental Budgeting: Theory, Process, and Politics, 2nd ed. Brooks/Cole: Pacific Grove, CA.
Jones, Peter. (1993). Combating Fraud and Corruption in the Public Sector. Chapman and Hall: London.
Light, Paul. (1993). Monitoring Government: Inspector General and the Search for Accountability. Brookings Institute: Washington, DC.
Meyers, Roy. (1996). Strategic Budgeting. University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI.
Stevens, Joe. (1993). The Economics of Collective Choice. Westview: Boulder, CO.
APPENDIX
Intellectual honesty is simply acknowledging, through documentation, all those sources that the writer has used in preparing any written work. Plagiarism, the obverse of intellectual honesty, is the use of any form of material, whether written or verbal, without formal indebtedness through documentation. The paraphrasing of any work, either written by other students or found in print or in electronic form, without acknowledgment, is plagiarism. Not properly identifying the source of a quotation, even though the quotation is enclosed in quotation marks, is also plagiarism. Not only the exact language of a sentence or phrase, but any material falsely presented as one's own?an idea, a concept, data, graphs, or a line of argument??constitutes plagiarism. Any material that neither originates with the student nor is common knowledge among educated persons must be formally acknowledged.
It must be remembered that written work stands on its own, not on the intention of the writer. The burden of academic honesty rests on the student, not on the instructor. If students have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism or what is required, they should inquire before the work is submitted. Otherwise, they open themselves to charges of plagiarism.
The penalties for plagiarism are severe: a student who is found to have plagiarized or to have assisted another student in plagiarizing may be given a failing grade for the course on the first violation; a second offense may result in exclusion or dismissal from the university.
(Adapted from Standards of Writing Pamphlet of City College, 1971. For the complete details on standards, penalties, and appeals procedure, see "Integrity of Scholarship and Grades," in the Undergraduate Bulletin.)
City College faculty consider interaction with students crucial to the teaching and learning process. To better ensure a quality educational experience, the following policies govern class attendance:
1. If a student misses 20% or more of class meeting time, a one full letter grade reduction will normally be applied to the final course grade. Twenty percent of classes amounts to three (3) ?week, one?night?a?week format; six (6) classes in a semester?long, two nights classes in a semester?long, one?night?a week format; one and one?half (1 2) classes in an eight?a?week format; or two (2) partial sessions in an intensive weekend format (Friday evening and/or Saturday morning and/or Saturday afternoon).
2. If a student misses the first weekend of an Intensive Weekend class, the student must drop the class. The appropriate drop form, which must be completed by Tuesday following the first class meeting, is available in the City College office.
The foregoing attendance policy statements are minimum standards. Instructors have the right to exceed those standards and establish grade adjustments as warranted.
Grades of I (incomplete) change to F automatically if the course is not completed and the grade changed by the sixth week of the subsequent semester, excluding summer terms. The resulting F grade remains as the permanent grade for the course.
Note: the grade of Incomplete will not be registered merely because a student did not complete all of the course requirements. If a grade of Incomplete is to be recorded, the student and instructor must have previously agreed to the circumstances of this grade, otherwise the delinquent assignments will be counted as a zero and impact the final grade accordingly.
Start with the bibliography data of the journal article at the top of your paper. Please staple the article to your paper. Please use the section headings as listed below to separate your responses. The critique should generally be no less than two pages, and not more than four pages. The critique must be typed and double spaced.
______________________________________________________________________________
Erwin, B.S., and Bennett, L.A. (1987). “New Dimensions in Probation:
Georgia’s Experience
with Intensive Probation Supervision,” National Institute of Justice, Research
in Brief.
Washington, D.C.
Thesis
This
will be a short paragraph outlining what the thesis statement, or research
question of
the article is.
Literature Review
This will be your review of the Literature the journal offers to establish the “theory” used by the author to frame the thesis, or research question. Example: If the thesis statement (or research question) is a question related to crime prevention, and the author relies on Routine Activities Theory to frame the thesis or research question, then discuss briefly the theoretical constructs of Routine Activities Theory as found in the Literature Review of the article.
Data/Analysis/Methods
This section should outline what data (types, how it was collected, etc.) was used, how it was analyzed, or what methods were used to examine the data collected. Example: a brief discussion of Independent and Dependent variables, as appropriate to the theories used would also be covered in this section.
Conclusion/Discussion
This section summarizes the author’s conclusion(s).
Student’s Critique/Impression
This section is very important. The student should make recommendations, or alternative explanations, that may, or may not, disagree with the findings of the journal. However, students must explore the thesis question and ask themselves, “is there something that is missing from this article, or is there something that could have been used to make a better test?” To report simply what the journal says will not satisfy the requirements for this assignment. Students must critically analyze the article.