COURSE SYLLABUS CCJ 4670 WOMEN AND CRIME
Spring Term, 2004 INSTRUCTOR: Dr. M.A. Eastep
Office: Room 329, HPA I
Phone (407) 823-3598 email: meastep@mail.ucf.edu
OFFICE HOURS: MWF,
TEXT: van Wormer, K and Bartollas, C. (2000). Women and the Criminal Justice System.
No supplemental texts are required; however, students are expected to keep attuned to the status of women, and to pay particular attention to articles in journals, magazines and newspapers that relate to women in the criminal justice system.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course covers women in criminal justice as offenders and prisoners, as well as crime victims and professionals working in the system.
COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course is designed to actively involve the student in the learning process through an examination of the roles of women in criminal justice. This will be accomplished by setting forth the following as learning objectives:
to understand the evolution of society's views of women in the system
to enhance awareness of the role of women in society, and how this status relates to the criminal justice institution
to explore various theories of the etiology of female criminality
to understand concepts related to feminism and feminist theory of crime
to review issues related to women as victims of crime
to examine domestic violence and its consequences
to understand gender bias as it relates to law enforcement, the courts and corrections
to review the position of women as practitioners within the system
to explore related issues such as affirmative action and sexual harassment
STUDENT EVALUATION: Students will be evaluated on the following criteria:
1. All students are required to complete a critical evaluation exercise. These will consist of the completion of an impact summary. Impact summaries are papers written by the students, analyzing at least two issues in ONE chapter of the text. Students should choose two or three issues in a single chapter of their choice that impacted them, and relate how they were impacted, using critical skills to consider the issue in light of either individual concerns or topics of the day as related in the news. Students may relate the reading to outside sources to add interest. This component will comprise 10% of the final grade. (See impact summary guidelines at the end of this syllabus.) Impact summaries must be submitted via COURSE email. Please do not send them to me using any other email accounts, or they will not be counted for course credit.
2. Interviews or projects will be required of each student. Students may choose to complete a project alone or with one, two or three other students in the class. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively, as group work strengthens relationships and usually yields a much deeper and richer project.
Meet and Discuss: If you or someone in your group knows someone who fits one of the categories of females described in the text (offenders, victims or practitioners), you may wish to meet with that person, discuss some of the relevant issues and write a report of your experience and the linkages to the text and issues. In addition, you will briefly report your findings to the class (on the discussion forum). A brief (3-4 page, typed and double-spaced) summary of the experience, and a copy of the questions you asked must be submitted. (Questions only - NOT questions and answers) Also, the name and phone number of the party with whom you spoke, along with the date, place and time of the meeting must be submitted. This information will be kept confidential, and is for verification purposes only. Your discussions with the offender, victim or professional are expected to relate directly to the assigned readings, and questions should be designed with the issues contained in the readings in mind. THE PERSON WITH WHOM YOU SPEAK MUST BE A FEMALE.
Other project options: Whether you elect to meet and discuss issues or choose another project, a project proposal must be submitted in advance and individually approved. The proposal must consist of a 1-2 paragraph description of the project as envisioned by the student(s). The proposal may be a very brief sketch, but all the basics must be included. Other examples of projects might include the following:
* Explore the status of women in contemporary U.S. Find examples of the depiction of women in pop culture; make a web collage or other graphic representation; and, prepare a presentation for the class outlining your process, findings and interpretation. PowerPoint presentations or web pages may be the end product of your research, but plagiarism rules still apply. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Any "borrowing" of information from sources other than your own thoughts must be accompanied by a citation showing me where the original materials can be found. A PowerPoint presentation must cite all sources and must be comprehensive.
* Visit and volunteer. Spend at least two or three days helping out in a women's shelter. Speak with the residents and staff concerning issues related to women and the crime connection. Write a brief report (4 - 6 pages), and report to the class (via the discussion forum) on your experiences.
* Select a famous female victim or offender (Examples might include Nicole Brown Simpson - victim; Eileen Wuornos -offender) and apply one or more of the theories discussed in the text or online (materials icon).
If approved, projects must follow guidelines set forth in proposals. The
project component is worth 10% of your final grade. NOTE: [PROJECTS MAY BE
COLLABORATIVE; HOWEVER IT IS EXPECTED THAT A PROJECT THAT HAS 3 - 4 PERSONS
INVOLVED WILL BE MORE SUBSTANTIVE THAN ONE THAT ONLY HAS ONE PERSON WORKING ON
IT.]
Your project must be submitted TO ME via COURSE email on or prior to the date it is due. IN ADDITION (NOT, INSTEAD OF), you should BRIEFLY summarize a few high points and present it to the class on the discussion forum. Please do not simply attach the entire project, unless it is a web collage or a project specifically designed for web presentation (like a web page or PowerPoint presentation). Otherwise, they become a little cumbersome to read when everything comes due. It is much better to choose a few significant points to generate some quality discussion. If you post your project to the discussion forum, but neglect to submit it directly to me, you will not receive credit for the project. It is not my responsibility to track down your projects, but rather it is your responsibility to submit them as required.
3. Three written exams, including the final, will be given.
They will consist of questions drawn from the reading material, and any
supplemental information provided. Exams will be objective in nature (multiple
choice, true-false, short answer), and will be worth 70% of the final grade. Exam make-ups
are generally not permitted unless exigent circumstances (supported by
documentation) required the student to miss the exam. Make-up exams are
assessed a 25% ‘late fee,’ regardless of
the reason for the missed exam.
4. It is expected that students will contribute intelligently and meaningfully to class discussions. There is a discussion forum that will serve as the "virtual classroom." Students must participate regularly in order to be successful in this class, and to that end, you are required to start ONE new thread each week and to comment on at least one other. Check with the course calendar and pace your postings accordingly. Please respect the opinions as expressed by others. If you feel strongly opposed to the views of other students, please respond to the VIEWS and not to the student. That is, keep the discussion on an academic level, and refrain from personal attacks on other persons. You are also required to post a brief summary of your impact summary and your project. If you work collaboratively, only one member of the group will post a summary, but names of all group members must be included in the post. Class participation on the discussion forum will be worth 10% of your final grade. The 10% will be calculated based on quality as well as quantity of input.
Final grades will be calculated as follows:
90 - 100 = A
80 - 89 = B
70 - 79 = C
60 - 69 = D
less than 60 = F Plus/Minus scale will not be used in this course.
ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY: Students are expected to be honest in their submissions. All class work must be original, and may not be shared with other students without prior approval. Individuals engaging in such sharing or cheating may fail the course. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Work submitted to fulfill requirements for other courses may not be submitted in this course without approval. Students who choose to engage in collaborative projects are engaging in approved sharing.
No extra credit will be given.
COURSE CALENDAR
WEEKS 1 - 3
Course introduction. Discussion
of socialization of women; sexism; feminist perspective on discussion forum.
Chapters 1 and 2 should be read. Gender, Patriarchy and
Social Control. Women in Crime. Read
supplemental materials on theories of criminality. Project proposals
are due on or before January 30.
WEEKS 4 - 6
Read Chapter 3. The Prison Environment. Discussion on prison issues, including the population profile, the "bad mother image," prison sexual abuse and women on death row.
EXAM I will be posted on Friday, February 13 (No bad luck intended!) at
WEEKS 7 - 9
Read Chapter 4, Rape and Chapter 5, Wife and Partner Abuse. Discussion of types of rape and rape myths. Discussion of domestic violence. Impact summaries are due on or before March 5.
WEEKS 10 - 12
Read Chapter 6. Discussion of women in policing and sexual harassment in the police culture.
Exam II will be posted on Sunday, March 28 at
WEEK 13 - 15
Read Chapters 7 and 8. Discussion on women practitioners
in the CJ field. Projects due on or before April 9.
Review and discussion. Final Exam will be posted on
Monday, April 19 at
Late work will be accepted until Tuesday, April 20, at
GUIDELINES FOR IMPACT SUMMARIES:
Impact summaries must be typed, using Times New Roman 12-point font, and must be 3 pages, double-spaced. Impact summaries must be analytical in nature, and express the specific aspects of the chapter that had the most profound or significant impact on the student. An example follows.
After reading Chapter 5, Wife and Partner Abuse, you may have been most impacted by two issues: the often-erroneous assumption that women are safer when they leave abusers; and, the applicability of the use of self-defense for victims of domestic violence who ultimately kill their abusers. The next step, after identifying these issues is to answer the following questions:
How, specifically, were you impacted by this point? What made this point
particularly interesting or enlightening to you? For example, what is the
significance of this point to your life? Will an enhanced understanding help
you in your work, in your research, in your personal life, or in your studies
as a criminal justice student? You may work as a police officer, where you
regularly advise women to leave abusive situations. It may be a routine with
you to provide information related to the availability of shelter programs,
counseling, etc. After reading this article, you may realize leaving an abusive
situation is much more complicated than what you had imagined, and you may
recognize it is important to consider what comes next for battered women who
leave home. You may find your perspective has been changed somewhat, and that
you may provide better assistance to victims because you have a clearer
understanding of the surrounding issues. You may wish to further research this
issue and to suggest more inservice training to
fellow officers on the topic. Your personal biases regarding battered women may
have been affected slightly, etc. Regarding the point of the use of the
self-defense legal defense for abuse victims who ultimately kill their abusers,
you may have heretofore thought of this defense as an excuse that was somewhat
farfetched. After this reading, you may have a little different perspective of
the terror of victims, which can be related to the terror of persons who strike
out in self-defense during other crimes. Your analysis might entail some
anecdotal evidence drawn from cases with which you are familiar.
Have you heard or read material that contradicts or supports the points made
in this article? You may recently have read a case study or seen a news
program in which a battered woman used the self-defense legal defense when
accused of the murder of a spouse. After reading or viewing the case, you may
feel the defendant stretched far beyond the realm of what you considered to be
"self-defense." You may wish to discuss the other side of the issue,
and/or the ultimate findings of the jury in the case you cite. Conversely, you
may have found, read or viewed cases that provide support, such as Lenore
Walker's work, Terrifying Love: Why Battered Women Kill and How Society
Responds.
Do you feel this article is written in a biased manner? What is some
specific evidence of bias? You may believe the researcher has chosen
"worse-case scenarios" to prove a point.
Can you add to the reading, or provide materials that may enhance your
fellow class members' understanding of the issue? You may have seen a
segment on World News Tonight, which relates directly to the plight of
battered women attempting to leave home. If so, you may wish to summarize
that segment and highlight pertinent points to share on the discussion forum.
The foregoing are guidelines only. You are not required to follow the format outlined above, but it should help you understand what is meant by critical analysis. Often students are attracted to this course because they have a professional interest in victims or offenders, or because they have had personal experiences as victims, offenders or witnesses to violence in the home that has resulted in pain and/or life-changing circumstances. One or more chapters are particularly interesting to those students. The impact summaries give students the opportunity to explore specific aspects of issues of interest. If you do not have a personal or professional interest in specific issues, use the impact summaries to explore topics you have had a passing interest in that has been heightened by/through the readings.
Your impact summaries must be submitted TO me via COURSE email, on or before the date it is due. IN ADDITION (NOT INSTEAD OF), you should BRIEFLY summarize a few significant points and present them to the class on the discussion forum. Please do not simply cut and paste your impact summary to the discussion forum. Remember that it is your responsibility to submit the impact summaries to me! If you do not do so, you will not receive credit. I will not track down your impact summaries and remind you to submit them to me. Even though you email it, please save the document as an MS Word file so that it can be retrieved later if there are problems or if the document gets lost.
Rules
of Engagement
It is important that we enter this
online environment with an understanding of the impact our words can have on
others. Since we cannot see one another, we are not constrained by traditional
boundaries offered by appearance and constructed biases. On the other hand,
since so much communication is accomplished through body language and other
nonverbal (or in this case, unwritten) messages that we cannot see, it is sometimes
difficult to fully discern meaning. Thus, I have put together a few
"rules" that might make our communication a little easier to
facilitate, if we are conscious of some of the problems that might arise, and
if we therefore consciously try to prevent misunderstandings and
miscommunication.
1. No one can see your smile or hear your laughter. If
you mean something to be funny or cute, you may have to specifically
communicate that you are joking.
2. Discussion can be very productive academically, but
that often involves strong disagreement. There are some highly controversial
topics in this course and this course attracts very liberal as well as
politically conservative students. This mix can work to our advantage, if we
continue to respect the opinions of others as we disagree. Remember to always
disagree with opinions and to direct concerns, evaluations and specific points
of argument toward the opinion that has been expressed and NOT toward the party
expressing the opinion. For example, I might strongly believe that women are
insane to stay in a home when they are being beaten (I don't, by the way) and
one of my classmates might have just written a compelling argument outlining
reasons why abusive males are highly likely to pursue their prey, perhaps
concluding that she should not leave as statistically she is in more danger if
she does and since she is the victim, logically she should not have to leave
her own home anyway. Upon reading the argument, my immediate response might be
to criticize the writer, pointing out that such a stupid line of thinking is
probably responsible for hundreds of deaths to domestic violence victims each
year. However, a better approach would be for me to take a look at the posting,
take a few minutes to cool down, pick out the specific points that I disagree
with, and direct my argument toward those points. It would not hurt if I began
my posting with a softer tone, such as, "while I understand your
perspective, I cannot help but think that the safety of the victim must be the
primary consideration…" and continue to make my own point. The best
arguments are those that are developed with specificity and that get support
from academic sources. The text is a good source for help - it looks at
multiple dimensions of some of these issues.
3. If prior experience holds true, a significant
proportion of students in this class have had first-hand experience with one or
more of the issues we will be discussing. During past terms, I have had
students who have been convicted of various crimes; victims of incest, domestic
violence, rape and other crimes; actively involved in sexual harassment
lawsuits filed against police organizations and other bureaucracies; falsely
accused of rape (males); perpetrators of crimes of violence against women (not
falsely accused, but not fully understanding the implications), etc. With that
in mind, I would ask that you keep sensitive to the feelings of others as you
post your contributions to the forum. That does not mean to sugarcoat your
thoughts or that you are being asked to stifle your urge to contribute. On the
contrary, there is probably nothing you can say that a rape victim (for
example) has not heard before. However, I would ask that you recognize that it
is highly likely that the audience for your postings will include people who
fit many if not all the categories explored in the text. That enriches the
course tremendously. Even if those folks choose not to disclose their
membership in those categories, the unique perspectives they bring to the table
add depth to the discussion. But as you post your discussion contributions,
remain sensitive to the feelings of others.