Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
Oglethorpe Hall, Room 219
Telephone: (404) 880-6659

Undergraduate Course Descriptions

SCJ 201 Introduction to Criminal Justice - 3 credits
A study of the historical development and progress of criminal justice systems in the United States, including an overview of the functions and responsibilities of various agencies of the Criminal Justice Systems.

SCJ 205 Law Enforcement - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A comprehensive survey of the history and functions of law enforcement agency, including discussions of selected topics dealing with contemporary problems affecting law enforcement.

SCJ 215 Introduction to Sociology - 3 credits
Basic concepts and principles of human society. Students examine the social structure, group interaction, and processes of social arrangements.

SCJ 216 Introduction to Anthropology - 3 credits
Basic concepts of anthropological studies. This course presents an overview of social and cultural anthropology.

SCJ 218 Social Problems - 3 credits
An examination of current social problems and issues in the United States. Topics include drug addition, child abuse, battered women, abortion, poverty, and inequality. Students consider alternative proposals for resolving social problems.

SCJ 301 Criminology - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A study of the nature and causation of crime, crime typologies, and the extent of criminality.

SCJ 305 Criminal Investigation - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A coverage of the fundamentals of investigation; duties and responsibilities of the investigator; interrogation techniques; ways of protecting the crime scene; collections and preservation of evidence, scientific aids and other sources of information; court perpetration and case follow-up.

SCJ 308 Medical Sociology - 3 credits
Introduction to health and illness issues and indicators. Examines disease and other health conditions in the context of ethnicity, gender, and age.

SCJ 314 Victimology - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of the Instructor. Victim role, criminal-victim relationships, and societal reaction to victimization, including crisis-intervention centers, court related victim/witness services, restitution and compensation.

SCJ 315 Social Psychology - 3 credits
This course focuses on individuals' interaction within the social environments. There is also an emphasis on cognition, attitude formation and change, and group behavior.

SCJ 320 Criminal Justice Management - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A study of roles and responsibilities of staff and managers functioning within the various agencies of the criminal justice system. Emphasis on administrative and managerial principles and techniques as they apply to the criminal justice system.

SCJ 337 Statistics I - 3 credits
Prerequisite: General Education mathematics requirements. Introduction to descriptive statistics, including associational measures and probability.

SCJ 338 Statistics II - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 337 or an introductory statistics course. Introduction to inferential statistics, hypotheses testing, simple use of analysis of variance, and correlations coefficients.

SCJ 352 Marriage and Family - 3 credits
An analysis of the American family past and present. Students consider the heritage, contemporary forms, functions, and future trends of American family life.

SCJ 387 Social Research Methods I - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 337 or simultaneous in that course. An introduction to basic research techniques and skills. Students learn how to select and apply appropriate methods to theoretical problems.

SCJ 388 Sociological Theory - 3 credits
Historical and analytical discussions of major theoretical and methodological orientations in the development of sociology from Comte to the present constitute this course.

SCJ 389 Social Research Methods II - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 387 or an introductory research course. Students learn to analyze, interpret, and present data. This is a course that stresses project design, sampling, measurement and the application of findings from social research.

SCJ 400 Comparative Systems in Social and Criminal Justice - 3 credits
Prerequisite: junior or senior standing. An analysis of issues in social and criminal justice and their characteristics as they relate to the operation of larger social structures viewed in global perspective.

SCJ 401 Corrections - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. The systematic study of the official ways in which society reacts to persons who have been convicted of committing criminal acts, including persons handled by the juvenile courts.

SCJ 403 Judicial Process - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. An overview of courts, their legal basis, structure, jurisdiction and operation. An analysis of the legal process, including its historical development; an examination of theories, policies and practices regarding the offender.

SCJ 404 Juvenile Delinquency - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A study of the nature, extent, and causes of delinquency. Methods of prevention, treatment, and correction will also be examined.

SCJ 405 Criminal Law - 3 credits
Prerequisite: SCJ 201 or permission of Instructor. A survey of the nature and definition of criminal acts; a general study of laws relating to crimes and the punishment for their violation.

SCJ 410 Seminar on Organized Crime - 3 credits
Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of Instructor. A study of organized crime, including drug and vice offenders within the structures of a Constitutional Democracy.

SCJ 420/421 Special Topics I and II - 3-6 credits
A focus on different topics I and II in sociology and criminal justice to vary by semester. Topics may include deviance, environmental and public issues, organizational behavior, addictive disorders, and inequality, among others.

SCJ 425 Internship I - 3 credits
Prerequisites: Consent of the Instructor and completion of 90 or more credit hours toward the degree. Provides upper-level students the opportunity to perform as participants in established criminal justice agencies at the local, state, and federal levels.

SCJ 426 Internship II - 3 credits
Prerequisite: Consent of the Instructor. Provides upper-level students the opportunity to work with any social or criminal justice agency. Those who have taken SCJ 425 may use it as a continuing course for additional 3 credit hours.

SCJ 430 Cultural and Ethnic Relations - 3 credits
Analysis of cultural groups both national and international. Students examine the nature of prejudice and discrimination in a context of similarities and differences of various peoples, especially those of African descent.

SCJ 431 Social Stratification - 3 credits
An examination of global inequality relative to race/ethnicity, class, gender, age, and other factors.

SCJ 432 Gender Roles - 3 credits
An examination of cultural expectations and patterns of behavior of men and women in selected societies; focuses on the distribution of resources, prestige, and power in America in comparison to other developed and developing countries.

SCJ 480 Senior Project - 3 credits
Students pursue a program of reading, research, and writing as well as engage in a critical examination of one or more selected topics under the guidance of the instructor.

SCJ 490 Independent Study - 3 credits
Individualized program of research and/or other scholarly effort. Approval of the Department Chair required.

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Graduate Course Descriptions

SCJ 500 Administration of Criminal Justice - 3 credits
The course examines the decision-making guidelines of police, juvenile justice, court and correctional agencies. Issues and problems in regard to the application of these guidelines are also reviewed.

SCJ 501 Sociological Theories - 3 credits
The critical study of the major theoretical approaches to the study of social order and integration; social structure and action; social change; social norms and roles; class and stratification; deviance; the link between micro- and macrosociology; the scientific status of sociological theory. Candidates will be expected to show knowledge of the application of theoretical approaches to the explanation and understanding of empirical social phenomena.

SCJ 502 Criminological Theories - 3 credits
This course exposes students to different theoretical perspectives in the study of the nature and extent of crime and criminality. It acquaints students with various explanations that have been offered in an effort to understand criminal behavior. Particular attention will be paid to the idea of crime as a sociolegal phenomenon.

SCJ 503 Research Methods I - 3 credits
Covers the general field of research methodology including an overview of the research techniques and procedures used in surveys, comparative studies, field studies, and experiments.

SCJ 504 Research Methods II - 3 credits
Covers sociological application of specific research methods: conceptualization, designing, measurement, construction of scales, testing for validity and reliability of responses, and other measures. (Prerequisite: SCJ 503)

SCJ 505 Statistics I - 3 credits
A survey of descriptive statistical methods and tools used to analyze data and to quantify the data into usable information; designed as a general review as well as an introductory course in social statistics.

SCJ 514 Law Enforcement Administration - 3 credits
A survey of the role of law enforcement agencies, resource allocations, law enforcement policies, and its relation to the total criminal justice system.

SCJ 516 Judicial Process: Court Systems - 3 credits
An overview and analysis of the legal transactions involved in the accusation, arrest, adjudication, and disposition of criminal offenders.

SCJ 517 Correctional Systems - 3 credits
A study and analysis of correctional institutions, including historical development, trends, alternatives, and changes in the field of corrections.

SCJ 518 Delinquency and Juvenile Justice System - 3 credits
A study of analysis of the nature, extent, patterns,and causes of juvenile delinquency, as well as the accusation, arrest, adjudication, and disposition of juvenile offenders.

SCJ 519 Practicum - 3 credits
A planned, supervised program of research, observations, study, and work in selected criminal justice and other social agencies.

SCJ 520 Urban Society and Culture - 3 credits
Examines the relationships among environmental justice, violence, and environmental crime in cities. Case studies will be used to describe, explain, and analyze the impact of these relationships on urban life. Connections between city and culture provide the base for discussions on the social and cultural environment.

SCJ 521 Population and Society - 3 credits
Introduction to the study of population and its interactions with other aspects of society. Examines demographics, resources and environment, population trends, family structure and the status of women, and the future of population growth.

SCJ 526 Selected Topics Seminar in Sociology and Criminal Justice - 3 credits
Discussion of major topics in the administration of justice, including protests in contemporary society, theories of prejudice and discrimination, social justice in a planned society, police corruption, police labor management problems, and prison survival.

SCJ 531 Social Psychology - 3 credits
Examination of data, theory, and methodology currently utilized in a focus on the systematic study of the nature and causes of human social behavior.

SCJ 553 Criminology and the Criminal Justice System - 3 credits
Presentation of current data, theory, methodology, and practice relevant to study of criminal behavior and administration of justice.

SCJ 555 Medical Sociology - 3 credit
Examines health, illness, intervention systems and the contributions of social and behavioral sciences to understanding these systems. Also examines issues of disease and ethnicity, health disparities, social demography of health, epidemiology, alternative medicine, health care delivery, and international health, among other topics.

SCJ 559 Deviant Behavior - 3 credits
Attention to studies of mental disorder, addictive disorders, crime and delinquency, and other social anomalies in contemporary society.

SCJ 562 Social Stratification - 3 credits
Presentation of data, theory, and methodology of social mobility and internal division of societies based on race, class, gender, and age.

SCJ 563 The Family - 3 credits
A review of the American family, its heritage, contemporary forms, functions, challenges, and future projections.

SCJ 564 Comparative Gender Roles - 3 credits
A review of the significance of gender in social stratification, particularly as an intersection with race/ethnicity and class.

SCJ 565 Sociology of Education - 3 credits
Presentation of data, theory, and methodology of systems in education; includes analyses of formal and informal systems of learning throughout the life span.

SCJ 571 International Criminality, National Security and Terrorism - 3 credits
A study of the various forms of international crime with an emphasis on terrorism; focuses on the policies and methods used by governments to protect their national interests.

SCJ 575 Cultural and Social Anthropology - 3 credits
Presents of data, theory, and methodology on human diversity and the role of anthropology. Focuses on social institutions across the world, including family, education, religion, and the economic/political sector. Also examines language, kinship, gender, ethnic conflict, and global relations in the context of culture, socialization, and social organization.

SCJ 579 Cultural and Ethnic Relations - 3 credits
Presentation of data, theory, and methodology in the study of relations between groups which differ in race/ethnicity and/or culture as seen in international as well as domestic perspective.

SCJ 580 Environmental Racism - 3 credits
Examines the impact of institutional racism and health policies, industrial practices, governmental regulation and rule-making, enforcement, and overall quality of life in communities of people of color. Also examines the nexus between environmental protection and civil rights, the impact of the environmental justice movement on the dominant environmental paradigm and on national environmental groups.

SCJ 582 Comparative Criminal Justice Systems - 3 credits
Draws students' attention to the existence of four major world legal families -- the civil law, common law, socialist law, and Islamic law using the sociology of law perspective.

SCJ 587 Urban Ethnography - 3 credits
An examination of qualitative research methods in studying social behavior; focuses on conducting field studies as a scientific method of inquiry.

SCJ 603 Statistics II - 3 credits
This course is designed to provide skills to graduate students in inferential statistics. Students learn testing of scientific hypotheses utilizing correlation analysis, analysis of variance, regression analysis and factor analysis. Detecting defective data and interpolation will also be covered during the semester. (Prerequisites: SCJ 503 and SCJ 505)

SCJ 613 Independent Study - 3 credits
Designed to give students in selected fields an opportunity to more intensely pursue research and/or to engage in other learning experiences consistent with the completion of their program of study. (Prior approval of the instructor is required.)

SCJ 801 Thesis Consultation - 1 credit
Direct advisement with faculty in the completion of the thesis and research/ writing process.

SCJ 805 Thesis Research - 3 credits
Same as SCJ 801, but can serve as an option to meet financial aid and other "minimal load" requirements.