New Mission High School
Criminal Justice 101
Teacher’s Name: Ms. Tahiliani
Dates: 2013-2014 school year
Course Name: Criminal Justice 101
Course #: 25Z
Email Address: 7history@gmail.com
Room #: 240
General Course Description:
The overall essential question for Criminal Justice 101; “What is the responsibility of the
American Criminal Justice System in Our Society?” Criminal Justice 101 surveys the
American Criminal Justice System as a socio-political institution. The police, criminal courts,
and correctional and rehabilitative endeavors will be analyzed within the framework of empirical
research from the perspectives of the social sciences.
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the various facets of the American
criminal justice system. Particular emphasis will be placed on corrections, policing, and the courts.
In addition, time will also be spent examining explanations of criminal behavior and exploring
policy issues, such as community policing, specialty courts, victims’ rights, and incapacitation.
All God’s Children
Along side an introduction to criminology students will be reading the book entitled All God’s
Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence. The description on
Amazon.com states the following: Considered by many to be the most dangerous inmate in the
history of the New York penal system, Willie Bosket is a brilliant, violent man who began his
criminal career at age five. His slaying of two subway riders at fifteen led to the passage of the
first law in the nation allowing teenagers to be tried as adults. Yet sadly, Willie is not an
aberration within the Bosket family--but rather the latest in a long line of brutal, exceptionally
intelligent malefactors who were driven by circumstances, racism, and a distinctly American
craving for respect by any means necessary. In this groundbreaking work, award-winning
journalist Fox Butterfield traces a troubled family's history back to the days of slavery in an
attempt to get to the roots of the violence endemic in our society.
Terms, Concepts, Topics:
Criminology
Criminology as a field of study examines the existence of crime from cause to consequence.
Criminology is a vast interdisciplinary field that draws upon research in sociology, psychology,
anthropology and law to form theories of why crime occurs while scrutinizing the social
response to it. Delving further, criminology is broken into several schools of thought, each of
which scrutinizes the criminal mind and behavior from a unique perspective. Through its expert
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grasp of the causes of criminal behavior, criminological thought and theory is also utilized by the
criminal justice system.
Policing
Along with external defense, the maintenance of internal order is one of the defining functions of
government. The United States, like countries everywhere, has created a particular governmental
institution for doing so, namely, the police. There are 3 distinguishing features that define
American policing. They are: (1) The responsiveness to citizen demands, (2) Public
accountability, and (3) Openness to evaluation.
Courts
American Courts
The judicial system in the United States is unique insofar as it is actually made up of two
different court systems: the federal court system and the state court systems. While each court
system is responsible for hearing certain types of cases, neither is completely independent of the
other, and the systems often interact. Furthermore, solving legal disputes and vindicating legal
rights are key goals of both court systems. This component will examine the differences,
similarities, and interactions between the federal and state court systems to make the public
aware of how each system goes about achieving these goals.
International Courts
The International Criminal Court (commonly referred to as the ICC) is a permanent tribunal to
prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of
aggression. The 15-minute film module Law or War: The Creation of the International Criminal
Court explores the creation of the first permanent international court in history created to
investigate and prosecute individual perpetrators, no matter how powerful, for genocide, war
crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Corrections
In criminal justice, corrections, are umbrella terms describing a variety of functions typically
carried out by government agencies, and involving the punishment, treatment, and supervision of
persons who have been convicted of crimes. These functions commonly include imprisonment,
parole and probation. A typical correctional institution is a prison. A correctional system, also
known as a penal system, thus refers to a network of agencies that administer a jurisdiction's
prisons and community-based programs like parole and probation boards; this system is part of
the larger criminal justice system, which additionally includes police, prosecution and courts.
Juvenile Justice
The juvenile justice system in America is based on approximately 4,000 juvenile courts which
specialize in the problems of youth and operate with a philosophy (of rehabilitation) that even
the worst delinquent is not to be considered a criminal, or bad person, but instead an erring or
sick child who needs help. Some 2.8 million juveniles are arrested for crimes by police annually,
but only about 1.8 million are processed as delinquents by the courts.
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Restorative Justice
Based on the book entitled The Little Book of Restorative Justice, restorative justice is
concerned about needs that were not being met in the usual justice process. Specifically,
restorative justice are the needs of crime victims that not being adequately met by the criminal
justice system. Another major concern of restorative justice is offender accountability. The
criminal justice system is concerned about holding offenders accountable, but that means making
sure offenders get the punishment they deserve. Little in the process encourages offenders to
understand the consequences of their actions or to empathize with victims.
Texts, Books, Readings, Materials:
 Cole, George, Christopher Smith, and Christina DeJong. The American System of
Criminal Justice. Wadsworth, CA, 2013.
 Butterfield, Fox. All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of
Violence. Harper Perennial, 1996.
 Zehr, Howard. The Little Book of Restorative Justice. Good Books, PA. 2002.
 Movies:
o The Reckoning
o Cop World-PBS
o The Plea-PBS
Documentation of Work/Evidence: Students will present as evidence to demonstrate their
understanding of concepts using the following but not limited to: journals, notebook, tests,
portfolio, presentation, exhibition, essays, etc. For each major assignment students will be given
a grading rubric that explains in detail how they will be graded.
Essential Skills:
1. Collaboration and
Community
Building Skills
2. Discussion Skills
3. Organizational and
Study Skills
4. Presentation Skills
& Quantitative
Skills
5. Questioning and
Exploration Skills
6. Reading
Comprehension
Skills
7. Research Skills
Writing and
Revision Skills
Habits of Mind:
1. Perspective - Considering multiple
perspectives/viewpoints
2. Evidence - Weighing evidence
3. Relevance - Finding value both
personally and socially
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4. Reflection - Rethinking, selfassessing, & self-adjusting for
improvement
5. Connection - Seeing and making
connections and relationships
6. Supposition - Imagining possibilities
Literacy Strategies
Reading Strategies: Making connections, SOAP(STone), Text Rendering, Big paper/Silent
conversation, Reader’s theatre
Writing Strategies: Persuasive MEAT paragraphs, persuasive letters or editorials—should be
authentic (written for a purpose to a real audience); relevant to students
(subject that students care about, have a connection to, and/or relates to a
current issue); all should include citing texts and at least two should include
conducting and citing research, persuasive speech—should be authentic
(intended to persuade peers or larger audience at school about an issue) and
relevant to students, historical fiction memoir style: write 2-3 scenes in
memoir-style from the perspective of a real person in history
Technology: The use of an overhead projector will be used every day. Students will be able to
view their notes and pictures of the time period on the overhead projector. Powerpoints/Keynote
will be used daily. In addition, the following visual/media aids will be utilized:
Graphs
Images
Film
Political Cartoons
Timelines
Newspaper layout
Maps
Statistics with
Propaganda
percentages
Instructional Strategies and Activities:
For each semester, students will be able to answer an essential question by exploring what is
happening in that time period through a process of self-discovery and interactive pedagogy. Each unit
is filled with dynamic activities that make history come alive for students who might otherwise find the
subject remote, boring, or inaccessible. Some approaches are the following:
 Visual Discovery-Students view, touch, interpret, and act out historic images that are projected
onto a large screen in front of the classroom.
 Experiential Exercise-re-create historical moments, events, and circumstances. Students are
placed in historical situations such as an assembly line in a factory during the Industrial
Revolution. Students react to these experiences as if they were individuals of the time, gaining
an appreciation of history as a compelling human drama.
 Act-It-Out- Volunteers stand in front of the transparency and “enter the image” as they act out
what they think is happening. They put themselves in the same position as the people in the
slide and make the same facial expressions.
Grading and Evaluation:
Daily Learning Activities
40% of your grade goes towards your daily learning activities. This includes:
 Warm-Ups = 15pts
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 Mini-Lesson/Activity/Discussion/Group work = 20pts
 Wrap-Up/Check-In = 15pts
 Homework = 30pts
 Prepared/Respect the Learning Process (LP) = 20pts (-5 for every infraction)
Infractions may include the following, but not limited to:
o Attendance (Tardy)
o Not Prepared
o Talking During the Warm-UP
o Not Adhering to the Code of Discipline
TOTAL DAILY POINTS = 100pts
Products
30% of your grade goes towards your products. This includes:
 Presentations
 Projects
 Essays
 Classwork


Homework
Interactive Student
Notebook (ISN)
Tests
30% of your grade is based on tests and quizzes.
Other Expectations:
My expectations is that students will respect themselves, their classmates, their teacher, and, most
importantly, the learning environment in our classroom. Students who meet this expectation will be
much better equipped to succeed in CJ 101. If students violate this expectation, they will receive a
consequence, which might be any of the following: a warning, serving a lunch detention, and being
referred to our dean of discipline.
Deadlines
 Homework is due at the beginning of each class. NO late homework is accepted.
 Products are due at the beginning of class on the due date assigned by the teacher. NO late products
are accepted
Revisions
 ALL tests and products may be re-taken/revised within a week of receiving feedback.
 Tests must be re-taken within a week after school during homework academy.
Tardiness/Absences
 Identify a study buddy for each of your classes.
 When you are tardy or absent, you should contact your study buddy to get all your assigned work
that you missed.
 Having been absent does NOT excuse you from being prepared for quizzes or tests.
 When absent, you must get all your make-up work and you must turn in the work within a week of
your absence.
 See student handbook for detailed explanations of tardiness and absences
Tips for Parents:
What parents can do to be helpful:
 Making sure there is a relatively quiet area for your child to read and do homework.
 Checking to see that your child’s homework is done every night.
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 Making sure your child comes prepared with all the materials for class each day.
 Helping your child get a good night’s rest (at least 8 hours) and arrive to school on time.
 Asking your child to explain what he/she learned or did in History class each day.
Extra Help Schedule
Parent Appointment Days/Times:
Mondays-12:00-1:17 p.m.
Tuesdays-7:58-9:04 a.m. and after school until 3:30 p.m.
Wednesdays-9:06-10:12 a.m.
Thursdays- after school until 3:30 p.m.
Fridays-12:00-1:17 p.m.
Email Address: 7history@gmail.com
School Number: (617) 635-6437
Home Phone: (781) 686-9196
Cell Phone Number: (617) 733-0939
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