CJK 522
Advanced CJ Ethics
Fall 2013
Class Location:
Class Hours:
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Contact Phone:
Contact Email:
1.0
Course Overview
1.1
Catalog Course Description
This graduate-level course examines original source material for the primary foundational
ethical systems and how they may be applied in the day-to-day administration of criminal
justice.
1.2
2.0
3.0
FH, 213
R 7:30-10:20 pm
Floyd Berry, PhD
FH, 217G
M-R 2-5 pm
(254) 519-5705 (prefer Bb message)
fberry@ct.tamus.edu (prefer Bb message)
Accessing Blackboard (Bb)
This is a lecture course with online components, and the student accesses Bb on the Texas
A&M-Central Texas website: www.tamuct.edu. The student should click on “Blackboard” under
“Quick Links” and then log in. If the student has difficulty using Bb, he may call for toll-free
assistance: 1-855-661-7965, or access the support portal at www.tamuct.edu/bbsupport
Competency Goal Statements
2.1
Students will demonstrate writing skills appropriate to graduate-level college work in general
and the discipline of criminal justice in particular.
2.2
Students will demonstrate proficiency in the use of computer technology appropriate to
graduate-level college work in general and the discipline of criminal justice in particular.
2.3
Students will be able to analyze and apply various sources of moral standards to specific moral
problems in criminal justice.
2.4
Students will understand the key concepts of the foundational ethical systems: virtue ethics,
social contract theory, utilitarianism, and deontology.
2.5
Students will understand the key ingredients of civil disobedience.
Textbooks
3.1
Required Textbooks
Aristotle. (2004). Nicomachean ethics (F. H. Peters, Trans.). New York: Barnes and Noble. ISBN:
978-0-7607-5236-4
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
Bedau, H. A. (Ed.)(1991). Civil Disobedience in focus. London: Routledge. ISBN: 0-415-05055-3
Bentham, J. (1988). The principles of morals and legislation. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. ISBN:
978-087975434-1
Kant, I. (2009). Groundwork of the metaphysic of morals (H. J. Paton, Trans.). New York: Harper.
ISBN: 978-0-06-176631-2
Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. ISBN: 0-674-01772-2
NOTE: Although the classic works (Aristotle, Bentham, and Kant) may be freely obtained online,
those that cannot be obtained online are relatively inexpensive to purchase.
3.2
Recommended Textbooks (Optional)
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. NOTE: This work will be referred to as the
APA Manual in this syllabus and in the course.
Struck, W., & White, E. B. The elements of style. (Any edition will do.)
NOTE: The student is expected to have an adequate knowledge of the essentials of
grammar and writing style and of the guidelines for paper organization and referencing
in accordance with the APA Manual, consistent with graduate-level college standing. If the
student does not have adequate knowledge in these areas, then the purchase and use
of the two additional books is recommended. Failure to provide written work in
accordance with the essentials of acceptable, English writing style and APA guidelines
will result in poor grades.
4.0
Course Requirements
4.1
Class Participation (100 points)
Graduate students are expected to attend all classes and each class in its entirety (arrives on
time and leaves when class is dismissed). One excused absence will not affect one’s course
grade, in and of itself. Students are expected to have read assigned materials before class and
to participate in class discussions in meaningful ways, especially regarding comments that are
relevant to assigned readings and that reflect knowledge of those readings. Students are
expected to read the assigned materials prior to each class and discuss these materials in class.
Students are strongly encouraged to participate in open, active discussion and questioning. This
type of class participation fosters a critical evaluation and understanding of concepts. Students
must be in class to participate and earn class participation points. Class participation is based
upon the quality and quantity of participation. Quality participation pertains to a student
commenting, discussing, or asking questions in relevant, meaningful ways, based upon assigned
readings and subject matter for that class. Class participation points reflect the level of class
participation. No class participation points are awarded on exam days.
4.2
Term Paper (200 points)
A term paper is required for this course. The student shall select a topic that entails ethical
issues. Possible topics include racial profiling, race-based jury nullification, selective
enforcement (e.g., de-policing), excessive use of force, torture for purposes of national security,
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
war, wire-tapping and other forms of eavesdropping (relating to privacy issues), abuse of
discretion, or civil disobedience, to name a few. The student must relate the topic to a
contemporary phenomenon. For example, the student may wish to examine the Occupy
Movement which practices a form of civil disobedience, or the student may wish to examine
recent torture events at Guantanamo Bay for the topic of torture for purposes of national
security. The student may use the required textbooks as sources, but he should also locate at
least five peer-reviewed articles from the online, library databases (on website, find
Library/Online Databases/Criminal Justice—under LibGuides by Subject list/Article Databases),
to be used as sources as well. (Also, under Religious Studies is a Religion and Philosophy
Collection database.) Thus the student needs a minimum of six sources for his references page.
Articles may be found in a number of databases, as listed at the bottom of the webpage (e.g.,
Academic Search Complete). The student will not receive credit for articles that are not peerreviewed or not obtained from these library databases. Articles or information obtained from
Google searches or Wikipedia, for example, will not be accepted.
The term paper shall have a cover page, an abstract page (with keywords), and a references
page, in accordance with APA guidelines. The body of the paper itself must be at least twelve
pages in length, double-spaced. Thus the minimum, total length of the paper, from cover page
through the references page is fifteen pages. The body of the paper requires an introduction
and a conclusion. One section of the paper should describe the foundational ethical system
being used in the paper. The remaining sections will be created by the student, based on his
organization of the paper. There should be a balance of information content presented in the
sections vis-a-vis each other. The student should use headings throughout the body of the
paper for such sections, except for the introduction. The typeface will be comparable to 12
Calibri or 12 Times New Roman and double-spaced. The term paper must be written in a
Microsoft Word document. If the document is not a Microsoft Word document, then the
student will receive a zero (0) score for the paper.
The rules for the preparation and presentation of the manuscript shall conform to the APA
Manual. Under no circumstances shall the student quote any portion of a text from a source.
Instead, the student shall use his own words in conveying the meaning of cited source material.
The student shall use grammar that conforms to standard and acceptable prose-writing style
that is found in journal articles, scholarly books, and guides. The student should write in the
first or third person and should avoid the use of “etc.” (There are point deductions for writing in
the second person or using “etc.” or comparable expressions, quotations, or sentence
fragments.)
The cover page shall include the following information, typed in about the center of the page:
An Ethical Critique of (your topic)
John Smith (your name goes here)
CJ522-Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
Texas A&M University-Central Texas
The student shall use the running head feature and page numbers, in accordance with the APA
Manual. The page numbers shall be displayed in the top right portion of the pages of the
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
document. In Microsoft Word, locate the Insert tab, Page Number, Top of Page, and Plain
Number 3. Select Plain Number 3. At this point, one types in his header, according to the APA
Manual.
The term paper shall be graded according to the following rubric:
Qualities & Criteria
Poor
Good
Excellent
Format/Layout
 Presentation of the text
 Structuring of text
 Requirements of
length, font, and style
 APA style

(Weight: 20%)
Content
 Elements of topics to
be addressed
 Information is correct
 Coherency
Follows poorly the
requirements related
to format and layout.
Mostly follows the
requirements related
to format and layout.
Closely follows all the
requirements related
to format and layout.
(0-30 pts)
(31-35 pts)
(36-40 pts)
Essay is not objective
and poorly addresses
the issues. The
information provided
is unnecessary or
insufficient to discuss
the issues.
Essay is objective and
addresses all the
issues. Provided
information is
necessary and
sufficient to discuss
the issues.
(Weight: 40%)
Quality of Writing
 Clarity
 Grammar and English
usage
 Organization and
coherence
(0-63 pts)
Essay is poorly
written and contains
flagrant spelling and
grammatical errors.
Essay is poorly
organized, lacks
clarity, and
incoherent.
(Weight: 20%)
Citations, References, & Style
 APA style
 Sources correctly cited
regarding content of
sources
(0-30 pts)
Essay fails to follow
APA guidelines and
sources are
incorrectly cited for
content expressed in
sources.
(0-30 pts)
Essay is mostly
objective and
addresses most of the
issues. Provided
information is mostly
necessary and
sufficient to discuss
the issues.
(64-71 pts)
Essay is mostly wellwritten, without
spelling or
grammatical errors.
Essay is well
organized, is clear,
and ideas are
presented in coherent
ways.
(31-35 pts)
Essay mostly follows
APA guidelines and
sources are (mostly)
cited correctly for
content.
(31-35 pts)
(36-40 pts)
(Weight: 20%)
(72-80 pts)
Essay is well-written,
without spelling or
grammatical errors.
Essay is well
organized, clear, and
ideas are presented in
coherent ways.
(36-40 pts)
Essay follows APA
guidelines and sources
are correctly cited for
content.
If any portion of the term paper is plagiarized, then the student will receive a zero for the
paper, and the instructor refer the case to the Office of Student Affairs.
4.3
Exams (400 points)
The student will complete four essay exams, each valued at 100 points. All readings assigned
are subject to exam questions. Each exam is comprehensive, meaning that the student will
need knowledge of preceding work in order to answer questions adequately. The essays will be
graded according to the following rubric:
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
Qualities & Criteria
Poor
Format/Layout
 Presentation of the
text
 Structuring of text
 Requirements of
length, font, and style
Follows poorly the
requirements
related to format
and layout.
Mostly follows the
requirements
related to format
and layout.
Closely follows all
the requirements
related to format
and layout.
(Weight: 25%)
Content
 Elements of topics to
be addressed
 Information is correct
 Coherency
(0-19 pts)
Essay is not
objective and
poorly addresses
the issues. The
information
provided is
unnecessary or
insufficient to
discuss the issues.
(0-39 pts)
Essay is poorly
written and
contains flagrant
spelling and
grammatical errors.
Essay is poorly
organized, lacks
clarity, and
incoherent.
(20-22 pts)
Essay is mostly
objective and
addresses most of
the issues. Provided
information is
mostly necessary
and sufficient to
discuss the issues.
(23-25 pts)
Essay is objective
and addresses all
the issues. Provided
information is
necessary and
sufficient to discuss
the issues.
(40-44 pts)
Essay is mostly wellwritten, without
spelling or
grammatical errors.
Essay is well
organized, is clear,
and ideas are
presented in
coherent ways.
(45-50 pts)
Essay is wellwritten, without
spelling or
grammatical errors.
Essay is well
organized, clear, and
ideas are presented
in coherent ways.
(0-19 pts)
(20-22 pts)
(23-25 pts)
(Weight: 50%)
Quality of Writing
 Clarity
 Grammar and English
usage
 Organization and
coherence
(Weight: 25%)
Good
Excellent
The student will write his essays in a blue book(s). If any portion of an exam is plagiarized, then
the student will receive a zero for the exam, and the instructor will forward the case to the
Office of Student Affairs.
4.4
Service (100 points)
Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked, in a lecture given at Harvard University in the 19th century,
“Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think.” Thus one
may write about ethics and even publish articles on ethics, but until he lives ethically, then he
misses the point. The student is required to engage in fifteen hours of community service for
the course. The student may wish to go online to Killeen Volunteers, Inc., or
www.volunteermatch.org and enter an agency location to see what is available. Or the student
may already know of some agency that will work with him. Examples of service might include
the humane societies, tutoring, homeless shelters, spouse abuse centers, fundraising events,
and a host of others.
I will need a signed letter from a contact person who monitors your community service,
verifying that you completed at least fifteen hours service. The contact person will need to
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
supply a phone number or email address on the letter. The letters will be submitted to me by
the deadline date.
4.5
Service Paper (100 points)
A service paper is required for the course which relates to the service the student performed.
The paper will have two sections: description and analysis.
A. Description (please answer the following questions)
1. Had you ever done community service before? If “yes,” provide some details of this
service. If “no,” then explain why you haven’t done community service before.
2. Briefly describe the organization where you performed service.
3. Briefly describe the service you performed.
4. Briefly describe, if any, difficulties you had in completing your service.
B. Analysis
Interpret your service experience by reference to material from your assigned readings.
How do you interpret intellectually what you did in service?
The descriptive portion of the paper should be one to two pages; the analysis part will also be
one to two pages. The headings Description and Analysis will divide the two sections.
No cover page or abstract page is required. In the analysis section of the paper, the student will
need to cite sources when referring to ethical concepts from the readings. A references page is
therefore required as well. APA guidelines should be followed. One chooses the header as he
did in Section 4.2 (Term Paper). In the header, however, will only include the following
information:
Service Paper – John Smith (your name)
1
The following font style and size is acceptable: 12 Calibri or 12 Times New Roman.
5.0
Grading Criteria Rubric and Conversion
5.1
Rubric
4 Exams @ 100
Class Participation
Service
Service Paper
Term Paper
Total
5.2
400
100
100
100
200
1000
Conversion to Course Letter Grade for Posting
Points
%
Grade
900 – 1000
800 – 899
700 – 799
600 – 699
0 – 599
90 – 100%
80 – 89%
70 – 79%
60 – 69%
0 – 59%
A
B
C
D
F
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6.0
Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
Course Calendar1
Day
Topics
8/29
Syllabus
9/5
Academic Honesty / Plagiarism
Introduction to Ethics
9/12
9/19
9/26
Internet Encyclopedia of
Philosophy
Virtue ethics
Virtue ethics
Exam 1
10/3
10/10
10/17
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
Exam 2
10/24
10/31
11/7
Deontology
Deontology
Exam 3
11/14
11/21
Contractarianism
Contractarianism
11/28
12/5
Civil disobedience
Holiday – No Class
Civil disobedience
12/12
Papers and service
documentation
Final exam
Readings2
Assignments Due
Read syllabus & plagiarism
document
http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/ Statement regarding Academic
Honesty due by 7:30 pm
1
2
A, books 1-5
A, books 6-10
[Syllabus; academic honesty; article
in IEP; A, books 1-10]
B, chs 1-11
B, chs 12-17
[covers material from Exam 1; B,
chs 1-17]
K, Preface, chs 1-2
K, ch 3
[covers material from Exams 1-2; K,
Preface, chs 1-3]
R, chs 1-2
R, ch 3
Exam 1
Exam 2
Exam 3
C, Introduction, ch 3
C, chs 2, 4, 6
Term paper, service
documentation, and service
paper due by 7:30 pm
Final Exam
Events are subject to minor revision
A = Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
B = Bentham’s The Principles of Morals and Legislation
C = Bedau’s Civil Disobedience reader
K = Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
R = Rawl’s A Theory of Justice (1971 ed.)
ch = chapter
chs = chapters
7.0
Drop Policy
If the student wishes to drop this class, he must go to the Records Office and ask for the necessary
paperwork. Professors cannot drop a student from a class roll; this is always the responsibility of the
student. The student should attend class until the procedure is completed, in order to avoid penalty for
absences. Should the student miss the deadline or fail to follow the procedure, he may receive a poor
grade for the course.
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Syllabus for CJ522: Advanced Criminal Justice Ethics
8.0
Academic Honesty Statement
Texas A&M University - Central Texas expects all students to maintain high standards of personal and
scholarly conduct. Students guilty of academic dishonestly are subject to disciplinary action. Academic
dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating on an examination or other academic work,
plagiarism, self-plagiarism (“recycling”), or collusion. The faculty member shall initiate action for each
case of academic dishonestly. More information can be found at
http://www.tamuct.edu/departments/studentconduct/index.php
9.0
Disability Support
Texas A&M University – Central Texas complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and
the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. TAMUCT promotes the use of the Principles of Universal
Design to ensure that course design and activities are accessible to the greatest extent possible.
Students who require reasonable accommodations based on the impact of a disability should contact
Gail Johnson, Disability Support Coordinator at (254) 501-5831 in Student Affairs, Office 114E. The
Disability Support Coordinator is responsible for reviewing documentation provided by students
requesting accommodations, determining eligibility for accommodations, helping students request and
use accommodations, and coordinating accommodations. (See
http://www.tamuct.edu/departments/disabilitysupport/index.php)
10.0
Tutoring
TAMUCT offers its students tutoring, both on-campus and online. (See
http://www.tamuct.edu/departments/academicsupport/tutoring-services.php)
11.0
Late Work
As a rule, make-up work for class participation, exams, service, and papers will not be accepted. In rare
instances, one make-up exam may be offered, but with a 20-point deduction (written documentation
pertaining to a serious emergency will be considered for such a makeup). In no instance will a make-up
be offered for the final exam, and in no instance will a make-up for an exam be given after two weeks
from the original exam date. It is the student’s responsibility to contact his instructor within 24 hours
of having missed an exam for purposes of making it up. A request for make-up may or may not be
granted. The final course grade will be posted within a few days of the final exam, period. No
incompletes will be awarded for this course. If the student foresees that he will be unable to complete
the course, then he should drop the course or accept the posted grade.
12.0
Modification of the Syllabus
The syllabus is subject to minor changes at the discretion of the instructor. It is the responsibility of
the student to note any changes that are made during the semester.
13.0
Contact with Instructor
The student should contact the instructor via the message feature on Bb about any topic that pertains
to this course.
14.0
Announcements
It is the student’s responsibility to check for announcements on Bb and in class. The student should
check for announcements daily on Bb.