CJ 5600 Individual Research in Criminal Justice
Fact Sheet
Course Description:
INDIVIDUAL STUDY AND RESEARCH OF PERTINENT CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ADMINISTRATION PROBLEMS. NOT OPEN TO THOSE ENROLLED IN CJ 4601.
MAY BE REPEATED FOR A MAXIMUM OF 6 SEMESTER HOURS.
PREREQUISITES: 12 SEMESTER HOURS GRADUATE CREDIT AND CONSENT*.
Prerequisite course work:
CJ
CJ
CJ
CJ
CJ
5000
5003
5102
5301
5620
The Criminal Justice System
CJ Studies in Group Behavior
Administration in Criminal Justice
Legal Aspects of the CJ System
Methods of Criminal Justice Research
The purpose of this course is to produce a terminal project for the University of
Central Missouri Criminal Justice Department graduate program. It is
designed to replace the closed-book, timed Comprehensive Exam as previously
offered by the department (UCM Graduate catalogs 2009-2010 and prior).
Course Objectives:
This course is intended to be a comprehensive, capstone project that will utilize
a wide range of knowledge acquired by the student during their graduate
studies in the Criminal Justice department at the University of Central
Missouri (specifically from the courses mentioned above).
Specific goals include:
 Complete a critical comprehensive analysis of an agency or organization
 Identify key organizational, administrative, legal, and process issues
present at the agency/organization.
 Identify the mission, objectives, and goals of the agency/organization
 Research similar types of agency/organization and complete a
comprehensive introduction of the issues present
 Complete a critical analysis that links the underlying literature and
educational components with the specific agency/organization
 Complete an electronic presentation of an overview of the entire project
Course Format/Final Project Formulation:
This is an individualized course where students work generally at their own
pace, yet under the structured direction of a faculty mentor to complete a
formal policy analysis, a theoretical examination of a current program, and an
analysis of the organization as a whole.
Students must select a criminal justice agency/organization to analyze.
The Final Project consists of six chapters:
Part A/Introduction
Part B/Criminological Theory Perspective
Part C/Legal Aspects
Part D/Administrative Issues
Part E/Research Proposal
Part F/Criminal Justice Process/Conclusion
Detailed instructions regarding the content of each chapter (as well as
guidelines for formatting the entire project) will be provided upon enrollment in
the course.
Students will complete specific chapters according to the instructions, submit
them for review by the instructor and their peers, and receive assessments and
evaluations of their work. It is expected that multiple drafts will be submitted
prior to the completion of the course.
Additional Information:
Every student will create his or her own unique project; no two will be
completely alike.
There are no pre-conceived notions regarding what a final project should look
like; all will take on their own personality and characteristics as appropriate.
***
This course is the capstone project for graduate students in the Criminal
Justice Department. Students should consider this as they move through their
academic career at UCM.
Thesis-track students are advised to “use each course to build your thesis.”
The same advice can be true for non-thesis track students. Students should
choose an agency to analyze early on in their academic career, and begin to
collect information that is pertinent to the Final Project. As long as the
submitted work consists of only the student’s original work, it is acceptable to
use work submitted in another course for the Final Project.