INSTRUCTION
Course Package
AJS 140
INTRODUCTION TO CORRECTIONS
APPROVED 12/02/2011
EFFECTIVE: SPRING 2012-13
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)
INSTRUCTION
Course Package
Prefix & Number AJS 140
Purpose of this submission:
If this is a change, what is being changed?
(Check all that apply)
Course Title: Introduction To Corrections
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Course Description
Title
Course Number
Format Change
Credits
Prerequisite
Competencies
Textbook
Does this course require additional fees?
No
Yes If so, please explain.
Is there a similar course in the course bank?
No
Yes (Please identify)
Articulation: Is this course or an equivalent offered at other two and four-year universities in Arizona?
No
Yes (Identify the college, subject, prefix, number and title: Pima Community College AJS 123 Corrections As a Process
Is this course identified as a Writing Across the Curriculum course?
No
Yes
Course Textbook, Materials and Equipment
Textbook(s)
Current
edition
Title
Author(s)
Publisher
ISBN
Barnes & Noble Price
Corrections an Introduction
Richard P. Seiter
Pearson
9780135060827
$98.36
Title
Author(s)
Publisher
ISBN
Barnes & Noble Price
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Equipment
Modality
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that apply
On-ground
On-line
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ITV
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Course Assessments
Description of Possible Course Assessments (Essays, multiple choice,
etc.)
Exams standardized for this course?
Midterm
Final
Other (Please specify):
Where can faculty members locate or access the required standardized
exams for this course?
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)
Class Participation (20% minimum)
Chapter Quizzes (Essay/Multiple Choice, 2040%)
Midterm & Final (Essay / Multiple Choice 2040%)
Research Paper (20-40%)
Are exams required by the department?
No
Yes
If Yes, please specify:
INSTRUCTION
Course Package
Student Outcomes: Identify the general education goals for student
learning that is a component of this course.
Check all that apply:
1. Communicate effectively.
a.
b.
Read and comprehend at a college level.
Write effectively in a college setting.
2. Demonstrate effective quantitative reasoning and
solving skills.
problem
3. Demonstrate effective qualitative reasoning skills.
4. Apply effective methods of inquiry.
a. Generate research paper by gathering information
from varied sources, analyzing data and organizing
information into a coherent structure.
b. Employ the scientific method.
5. Demonstrate sensitivity to diversity
a. Experience the creative products of humanity.
b. Describe alternate historical, cultural, global
perspectives.
Office of Instruction Use only:
CIP Code:
ONET Code:
Minimum Qualifications:
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)
Method of Assessment
Each week portions of the text must be read
with the ability to understand and discuss the
material in class. Additionally, students will
research and prepare written report(s) regarding
a related topic(s) approved by the instructor.
Students will utilize quantitative reasoning and
problem solving while examining changes in
institutional populations, crime trends, and staff
to inmate ratios.
Each week students will build on prior week’s
lessons. Students must demonstrate
comprehension of material by weekly quizzes
and or class discussions.
Students will research and prepare a written
report(s) regarding a related topic(s) approved
by the instructor.
INSTRUCTION
Course Package
COURSE INFORMATION
Initiator: Bill Burrows
Date of proposal to Curriculum Sub-Committee: 12/2/2011
Effective Semester/Year
Fall
Spring 2012
Summer
Prefix & Number: AJS 140
Full Title: (100 character limit)
Introduction to Corrections
Short Title: (30 character limit)
Catalog Course Description: This course will provide a history of correctional development, operations,
and the administration of correctional institutions. The course will introduce the student to the
development of new correctional programs and the future of correctional institutions.
SUN Course Number:
Credit Hours: 3
Lecture Hours: 3
Lab Hours:
Prerequisite(s) None
Co-requisite(s) None
Intended Course Goals
By the end of the semester, students will be able to:
1. Students will be able to describe the evolution of corrections based on a variety of sentencing goals,
and analyze current correctional practices and operations.
2. Students will be able to describe the legal, philosophical, and political aspects of sentencing
alternatives.
3. Students will be able to discuss the need for reform of correctional options and operations.
4. Students will be able to develop a model of future sentencing options and correctional alternatives.
5. Students will understand the issues resulting in decisions as offenders move through the
sentencing and correctional process.
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)
INSTRUCTION
Course Package
Course Competencies and Objectives
By the end of the semester, students will be able to:
Competency 1 Define the term corrections and know how correctional agencies fulfill their mission of protecting society.
Objective 1.1 Identify how corrections can affect the crime rate by understanding the concept of the correctional funnel.
Objective 1.2 Outline the growth of corrections over the past two decades and describe why the scope of correctional
budgets, staffing, and clients makes it important for students to study corrections.
Objective 1.3 Contrast the Classical School with the Positive School of criminology.
Competency 2 Explain the sentencing and the correctional process.
Objective 2.1 Explain the operation of pretrial activities, and understand how they can be considered a part of
corrections.
Objective 2.2 Specify the reasons for preventative detention, and describe the forms of release from jail pending trial.
Objective 2.3 Discuss how the Manhattan Bail Project operates, and how it expands the number of offenders eligible for
release on recognizance.
Objective 2.4Identify the role plea bargaining plays in criminal sentencing.
Competency 3 Describe the historical development of jail design and operations.
Objective 3.1 List the categories of offenders who are housed in jails.
Objective 3.2 Define regional jails, and explain their role.
Objective 3.3 Explain the reasons for the increased incarceration rate in jails over the past two decades.
Objective 3.4 Discuss the daily operations of a jail.
Objective 3.5 Identify the staff roles and functions in a modern jail.
Competency 4 Describe the history and development of probation during the nineteenth century.
Objective 4.1 Explain the organization and operation of modern probation.
Objective 4.2 Compare a casework and surveillance style of supervision.
Objective 4.3 Contrast regular, intensive, and special caseloads.
Objective 4.4 Describe standard and special conditions of probation.
Competency 5 Describe how the role and prevailing philosophies of prison operations have changed significantly over the
past century.
Objective 5.1 Explain the mission of a prison.
Objective 5.2 Explain the reasons for the dramatic increase in the number of prisoners since 1980.
Objective 5.3 Discuss how the construction of new prisons paralleled the growth in the inmate population.
Competency 6 Describe the historical development of parole in America, and specify the role played by Maconochie and
Crofton.
Objective 6.1 Explain the importance of the Elmira Reformatory in the early development of parole in America.
Objective 6.2 Discuss the operation of the medical model as it relates to the use of rehabilitation, indeterminate
sentences, and parole in the United States.
Objective 6.3 Describe alternatives proposed to the use of parole and the indeterminate sentence during the 1970s.
Competency 7 Identify the trend in the number of offenders under correctional supervision since the early 1980s.
Objective 7.1 Understand the use of incarceration rates to compare numbers of offenders over various time frames.
Objective 7.2 Explain the issue of racial disparity in regard to offenders under correctional supervision.
Objective 7.3 Describe how male offenders are assigned to various security levels of prisons, and how their daily routine
operates.
Objective 7.4 Specify the growth of female offenders under supervision and in prison, and suggest reasons for the
growth.
Competency 8 Describe the problem of juvenile crime, and identify any trends in such crimes.
Objective 8.1 Explain the development of the juvenile justice system, and the concept of parens patriae.
Objective 8.2 Discuss the reasons juveniles are waived to adult courts, and the concerns about this process.
Objective 8.3 List and define the three categories of offenders referred to the juvenile justice system.
Competency 9 Define special offenders, and describe how they require special handling under correctional supervision.
Objective 9.1 List and describe the three ways in which juveniles can be transferred to adult courts.
Objective 9.2 Identify the three approaches for incarcerating juveniles in adult correctional facilities.
Objective 9.3 Explain the scope and trends regarding drug offenders’ involvement in the criminal justice system.
Competency 10 Explain how prisons are organized to accomplish their mission.
Objective 10.1 Describe the functions that are usually a part of the office of the director of a state correctional agency.
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)
INSTRUCTION
Course Package
Objective 10.2 Discuss the role the inspector plays for a correctional agency.
Objective 10.3 Contrast the custody and treatment functions within a prison.
Objective 10.4 Define unit management and describe the role it plays in the management of a prison.
Competency 11 Describe the activities within total institutions that Goffman suggested make it more difficult for prisoners
to successfully return to and adapt to community living.
Objective 11.1 Define the concept of prisonization, and explain its impact on inmates both while serving a prison
sentence and as they return to the community.
Objective 11.2 Identify many of the common prison slang terms, and what they mean within a prison setting.
Objective 11.3 Compare the different types of violent acts that occur within prisons, and the forces that increase the
likelihood of violence.
Objective 11.4 Explain the history, development, and operation of prison gangs, and identify the threat they are to
operating a safe and secure prison.
Competency 12 Know the types and variety of jobs available in a prison.
Objective 12.1 Understand how prisons are organized, as well as the role of the warden.
Objective 12.2 Be able to describe the importance of organizational culture, and understand how culture is formed in a
prison.
Objective 12.3 Know the role a correctional officer plays in a prison, and be able to consider the pros and cons of this
job for yourself.
Objective 12.4 Know the history of female correctional officers in male prisons, and understand the challenges that
face them in modern prisons.
Competency 13 List the eight types of activities that contribute to the security and custody functions within a prison.
Objective 13.1 Define inmate accountability, and describe the activities by which prison officials ensure inmates are
accounted for.
Objective 13.2 Compare the different types of controlled movements in a prison.
Objective 13.3 Identify the three types of counts and how they are carried out in a prison.
Objective 13.4 Explain how contraband comes into the possession of inmates, and specify procedures to prevent it from
occurring.
Competency 14 Describe the historical development of the legal rights of inmates, and the creation and then
abandonment of the hands-off doctrine by federal courts.
Objective 14.1 Explain how the First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution create a basis
for inmate lawsuits.
Objective 14.2 List and discuss Congressional acts that have been used as a basis for inmate lawsuits.
Objective 14.3 Identify the types of tests the courts have created to consider whether prison conditions of confinement
violate the Eighth Amendment rights of inmates.
Objective 14.4 Specify the legal cases and tests regarding the opportunity for inmates to practice religion within prison.
Competency 15 Describe the trend regarding the size of the correctional population over the past 20 years, and specify the
changing trend over the past two to three years.
Objective 15.1 Identify the forces that have caused an increase in the prison population, and compare the growth of the
states to the federal prison systems.
Objective 15.2 Discuss the involvement of politics on correctional policy over the past 20 years.
Objective 15.3 Describe the public’s attitude regarding correctional sanctions and treatment programs.
Objective 15.4 Compare the effectiveness of public versus private prisons.
Objective 15.5 Explain the importance of staff diversity for correctional agencies.
Objective 15.6 Describe recent advances in research methodology and findings of the reviews of correctional treatment
effectiveness
Competency 16 Identify some of the key questions facing corrections in the next 10 years.
Objective 16.1 Describe the problems with this current approach, and discuss whether it can be successful and
continue as is.
Objective 16.2 Identify the recent methodological advancements that aid researchers in determining whether
correctional treatment programs are successful.
Objective 16.3 Outline current strategies for supervising offenders in the community, and discuss forces that will push it
to continue as is, or change in some manner.
MCC Form EDU 0007 (rev. 10/07/11)