Special Programs and Courses

We will update this page once more details become available for these seminars.

Complete them on your own time, at your own pace and earn an extra credit hour or two.

• Working With Special Populations – Substance Users, CJ 4005 & 6105 201.
  • This course will provided an overview of working with special populations in the field of criminal justice, specifically offenders with substance use needs. Criminal Justice staff are often challenged with how to work most effectively with clients who use substances or have addiction disorders. This course covers some foundational information on the prevalence and impact of substance use, and provides examples of strategies that staff can use to work more effectively with this population.
    
    
• What Works in Changing Offender Behavior: Addressing Responsivity, CJ 4004 & 6104 201.
  • Research has shown that correctional programs that assess risk, need, and responsivity factors are more effective in reducing participant recidivism than other programs that do not assess these factors. Of these three core factors, responsivity is the least understood. Responsivity requires that corrections professionals consider those characteristics specific to the individual under supervision and those generally true for offenders when matching him/her to interventions and treatment services. The process of understanding someone’s responsivity factors can be difficult, but when these factors are addressed, outcomes with participants under supervision are more successful.
• Working with Special Populations: Female Offenders, CJ 4008 & 6108 201.
  • This course will provide an overview of working with special populations in the field of criminal justice, specifically female offenders. In this course, you will be introduced to the best practices for working with female offenders. A review of the research around gender-responsiveness approaches provides the foundation for guiding evidence-based practice in the correctional setting. This course will also take a closer look at how these practices are providing support for female participants, as well as zero in on one of the most popular topics with female participants - trauma-informed practices.
• Domestic Terrorism & Mass Shootings in America, CJ 4019 201.
  • Today mass shootings have become cultural, social, and criminal phenomena in the United States. This seminar will identify both right- and left-wing terrorism and the more recent idea of foreign inspired attacks. Close attention will be paid to domestic terrorism and mass shootings from a historical perspective in comparison to today's violence and propensity for someone to commit both random, unprovoked murder, as well as the motive of revenge.

From Skydiving for course credit to studying Policing in America, there's bound to be a course or two of interest to you.

• Managing Extreme Risks: Introduction to Skydiving, CJ 4120 & 6020 201, 1 credit hour class held on T & H, 6-10pm & Sat. - TBA.
  • The purpose of this class is to introduce studentsto the management of extreme risks using skydivingas a case study. Instruction will include biological reactions to extreme risks, mental conditioning forrisks, as well as principles, techniques, safe practices, and strategies of bothrecreational and competitive skydiving. Only very basic skills will be taught. This class will not certify anyone to skydive, but will be a first step for those who choose to pursue a skydiving license. Students will be provided with the opportunity to skydive; however, the jump is not required to pass the course. Personal experience, fitness, and sound judgment are necessary to make this program as safe as possible.
• Cybercrime, CJ 3075 201, 3 credit hours, online.
  • This course is designed to provide students with a broad introduction to some of the various types of criminal conduct associated with computers and the Internet. As a student in this class you will be exposed to various types of cybercrime and threats to digital security, techniques associated with cybercrime detection, and will assess criminological theories of crime as they relate to digital crime and cyberterrorism. Additionally, you will examine a number of the national and international laws and policies related to cybercrime including the diverse steps that have been taken to increase digital security around the globe. Familiarity with computers and the Internet will help you progress through the course, but expertise is not required nor expected.
• Investigations, Threat Mitigation, & Countermeasures: Present Day Security & Loss Prevention, CJ 3077 201, 3 credit hours, online.
  • This course provides an overview of the widely expanded responsibilities of the present-day security and loss prevention industries. Ever changing criminal threats, and the diminished capabilities of public sector law enforcement, have necessitated that the private sector become subject matter experts in areas that were once the primary purvey of law enforcement.
  • The evolving roles of private sector security and loss prevention sectors will be examined to furnish insight on how this critical service industry collaborates and is heavily relied upon by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Career paths within the security and loss prevention industries will also be examined.