History of Crime and Criminal Justice in America
| Professor:
Frank Morn Office: 412 Schroeder Phone #: 438-7853 E-Mail: ftmorn@ilstu.edu |
criminal justice institutions in America from colonial to
recent times.
It poses the notion that clear understandings,
strategies and
solutions for current-day problems can occur
only with a knowledge
of their historical development.
society.
to think, discuss and write about modern-day crime
and criminal justice issues from the following perspectives.
The student will be able to see the:
>. ways religion and religious values have shaped
criminal justice issues and practices.
> importance of politics in any consideration of crime
and criminal justice development.
> persistence of xenophobia, racism and sexism in
American culture.
> general fear and reluctance of expanding governmental
power, particularly in the area of federal government
and federal criminal justice.
> forces that changed the attitudes as set forth above.
> quest for an urban and economic discipline by elites.
> legacy of private people doing criminal justice tasks.
> origins and development of the criminal law and
court procedures.
> origins and development of criminology as an
explanation of crime.
> importance of popular culture in forging ideas about
crime and criminal justice.
> origins and development of policing in America.
> origins and developments of correctional ideas
and institutions.
> origins and developments of "criminal justice"
as an academic discipline.
> relevance between the class thesis and the statement
at the end of this handout.
individual class standing and evaluation.
order:
Frank Morn, Forgotten Reformer
Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Kansas Charley
Gerald Posner, Case Closed
In addition, sometime in the last three weeks of class you
should view the film JFK by Oliver Stone
You are required to see this film.
If you cannot see it on your
own please see me.
This is essential because on the final exam
a "large" question will
have to do with a comparison and analysis of
that film and the book Case Closed
Writing
There will be several small writing tasks from my Web site.
The address is ilstu.edu/~ftmorn/cjhistory/ On this site you
will find an extensive bibliography for further interest
and research, postcard presentation on prisons,
a trial quiz, and the
SCENARIOS.
These are historic cases ("Who done it,"
miscarriages of justice etc).
Ten of these scenarios are required at ten points each
for a total of 100 points. These will be specified in class.
Others might be done for extra credit. In these exercises
the following might be helpful.
1. Summarize the important and relevant information
2. Set forth your interpretation as to guilt or outcome
as is appropriate
3. Write this up in a college-level typed essay of at
least three pages.
4. Morn's DOPE analysis scheme might be helpful
sometimes:
D=desire
O=opportunity
P=personality
E=evidence
Tests
There will be three tests, a mixture of multiple choice
and essays,
Each test is worth 100 points.
A weeks notice will be given before each test.
The last one will be during final week.
No make-ups will be offered.
Grading
At the end of the semester all students will be ranked
according to their point accumulation.
There are 400 points total (aside from any extra credit
that will be
occasionally offered) for this class with which to evaluate.
Grade structure will look like this:
400>>>>360==A
359>>>>320==B
319>>>>280==C
279>>>>240==D
239>>>>>>>==F
General Outline of the Course (for a more detailed
outline see "outline of course" on the Web page)
1. Introductions and Themes
2. Colonial America
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Immigration
ii. Culture Clash
iii. Village to towns
iv. Economics and crime
v. Religion and justice
B. Crime
i. Village period
ii. Town period
C. Criminal Justice
i. Law
ii. Police
iii. Punishment
3. New Nation
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Liberty and license
ii. Revolution in ideas
iii. Freedom v Control
iv. Conspiracy and scapegoats
v. New Criminology
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
i. New Law
ii. New Punishment
4. Jacksonian America
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Migration and immigration
ii. The "Common Man"
iii. Vice
iv. Boss politics
v. Diversity and Xenophobia
vi. Urbanization
vii. Mobs and Gangs
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
i. New Police
ii. Fall of the Penitentiary
5. War: Civil and Uncivil
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. War and crime
ii. New views on death
iii. Business crime
iv. "Just War" doctrine
v. Terrorism
vi. Assassination
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
i. Reformatory Movement
ii. Police
a. Pinkertons
6. The West
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. American Character?
ii. Myths and mythmaking
B. Crime
i. Riverboat gambling
ii. Transient towns
C. Criminal Justice in the Frontier
i. Law ("west of the Pecos")
ii. Police
a. Federal Marshals
b. Pinkertons
iii. Military and the Indian
7. Gilded Age
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Bossism
ii. Vice
iii. Terrorism
iv. Corruption
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
i. Police
ii. Prisons
8. Progressive Era
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Race
ii. Ethnicity
iii. Reform
iv. Purity crusade
B. Crime
i. Business, politics and the muckrakers
C. Criminal Justice
i. Police
a. Feds
ii. Prisons
9. Gangster Era
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Prohibition
ii. Radicalism
iii. Crime as a national issue
iv. Academic Criminology
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
10. War: Hot and Cold
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. War and crime revisited
ii. Radicalism revisited: Communism
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
11. Liberal Era
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Politics and criminal justice
ii. Mobs and demonstrations
iii. Increased crime rates
iv. Unpopularity of war
v. Baby Boomers
vi. Civil Rights movement
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
12. Conservative Era
A. Relevant Questions and Issues
i. Politics and criminal justice
ii. National war on crime
B. Crime
C. Criminal Justice
Remember what is etched on your automobile's side view mirror.
"Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear."