CCJ 4670  Women and Crime

Summer B, 2003

Mary Ann Eastep, Ph.D.

 

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:

 

Required Texts

van Wormer, K and Bartollas, C. (2000). Women and the Criminal Justice System. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

 

It is expected that after students have read and synthesized this material, they will have a much richer understanding of the role of women within the criminal justice system.

Supplemental Texts

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 which relate to women in the criminal justice system.

 

Library Resources

¨      http://library.ucf.edu/

¨      http://webct.ucf.edu/SCRIPT/ccj4670/scripts/serve_home

 

Evaluation Procedures

Grade Categories	Description of the requirements	Weight toward final grade
Online Discussion	Weekly participation; Start one new thread and comment on at least three others.  Post a summary of your project and a brief summary of your impact summary.	10%
Project	See criteria below (under Project)	10%
Critical evaluation exercises (Impact summaries)	See criteria below (under Critical evaluation exercises)	10%
Exam I	Covers Chapters 1 - 3 and Materials Topics 1 - 15	20%
Exam II	Covers Chapters 4 – 6 and Materials Topics 16 - 23	20%
Final Exam	Comprehensive	30%

 

Technology Requirements

Technology	Expectations for Use
E-mail:	Email will be used as part of this course.  STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO STAY CONNECTED!  Check your email often and respond promptly.  It is the student’s responsibility to keep email address current at the eCommunity function of the course.
WebCT:	This course is organized on WebCT and we will use it as the virtual classroom.  Students are expected to log in regularly and to participate as outlined above.  The “materials” segment of the course has notes that you are responsible for reading and studying.  In addition, there is a glossary that will help you with some of the terms with which you may not be familiar.

 

In order to be successful in this course, you need to have access to a functioning computer.  Inability or unwillingness to have online access is not a valid excuse for missing assignments or exams.  There are computers available at various locations around the UCF campus, including the Library and Classroom I.  In addition, most if not all county libraries in Florida permit residents to use the Internet at their facilities. 

 

Additional Policies

Grading and evaluation	Plus/minus grades are not used in this course.  Grades are assigned as follows: 90 – 100 = A 80-89 = B 70-79 = C 60-69=D below 60 = F
Virtual Participation	Participation will be scored based upon the criteria set forth above in the online discussion section of the evaluation criteria section.  The criteria outlined above expresses minimum requirements.  Quality of discussion will also be evaluated (in addition to the degree to which the minimum standards are met).
Deadlines	All assignment due dates, exam dates and important dates to remember are noted on the course calendar.  It is the student’s responsibility to check the calendar and keep attuned to important dates.  Missing assignment deadlines and/or exams will be penalized.
Late, make-up and extra credit work	Late work will be accepted for one week past the assigned date, excluding end-of-term assignments.  All late work will be assessed a 25% “late fee.”  Exam make-ups are generally not permitted unless exigent circumstances (supported by documentation) required the student to miss the exam.  Make-up exams are also assessed a 25% “late fee,” regardless of the reason for the missed exam.  No extra credit will be given.
Academic integrity	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. (Group projects constitute prior approval to share.)  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 prior approval of all instructors.

 

 

PROJECTS

 

Projects will be required of each student. Students may choose to complete a project or an interview. Both are described below.

 

Project proposals must be submitted in advance and individually approved.

 

 

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. Relate your ideas about the status of women to the victimization of females in contemporary U.S. society.

* Find a published interview of a female offender or crime victim in a journal or a popular media source and evaluate the experience of the interviewee based on the issues outlined in the text.  Victim issues might include victim-blaming, reaction of society or culture to victimization, experiences in court, rape culture, domestic violence issues, etc.  Offender issues might include background issues; drug and alcohol use; treatment by criminal justice professionals, including police, court and correctional personnel; rehabilitation facilities or variables, etc.

* Speak with a friend or acquaintance who is a female and who fits one of the three categories (offender, victim, practitioner).  How does her life compare with the lives of some of the examples set forth in the text?  Are the issues similar?  What lessons can you learn from your discussions?  How can you take this practical knowledge and frame it in an academic perspective?

* Visit and volunteer. Spend at least one or two 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 (5-6 page) report, and report to the class (via the forum) on your experiences.

* Select a famous female victim or offender (Examples might include Nicole Brown Simpson - victim; Eileen Wuornos -offender) and apply one of the theories discussed in the text or in the materials section of the course to the female victim or offender you have selected.  Submit a 5-6 page paper summarizing your efforts, and share your major points with the class on the discussion forum.

If approved, projects must follow guidelines set forth in proposals. The project component is worth 10% of your final grade.

 

Each project will be graded based upon the criteria of clarity, relevance to the issues learned in the course and depth of analysis.  Projects may be collaborative efforts, if two or three students would like to pool their resources and efforts.  If that is the case, the combined total of the project can be somewhat shorter than three single combined papers.  I am more interested in quality than quantity.  Whereas individual papers should be 5 – 6 pages in length, a project wherein three students work together may be 12 – 13 pages in length. 

 

The following is an example of a grading rubric for a project.  Assuming you elected to apply a theory to a victim, this would be the criteria used for evaluation:

Case study selection (have you chosen a case that is suitable for this type of analysis?). . . . . . . . . . . . 10 points

Explanation of case (concise, accurate description of major points of case). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 points

Choice of theory(ies) (how well does the theory or theories you have selected fit the case study?

                                                                                                                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 points

Description of theories (depth of understanding shown). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 points

Application of theories to this particular case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 points

                                                                                                                                                                                ________

                                                                                                                                                                                100 points

 

 

 

 

 

Critical Evaluation Exercise

All students are required to complete a critical evaluation exercise. This will consist of the completion of one impact summary. Impact summaries are papers written by the students, analyzing at least two issues in the assigned readings. FOR THE IMPACT SUMMARY, students will choose two 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 the following section on Impact Summary Guidelines.)  PLEASE NOTE THE DUE DATE FOR IMPACT SUMMARIES ON THE COURSE CALENDAR.

 

GUIDELINES FOR IMPACT SUMMARIES:

Impact summaries must be typed, using a standard12-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 which 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 which 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.

 

It is also important that you share a brief summary of your paper with the class on the forum.