MS in Crime and Justice Studies/MS in Mental Health Counseling
MSCJS Courses (8 courses, 24 credits)
Required Core Courses (4 courses, 12 credits)
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CJ-681 Crime and Communities
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Program. This course will examine the relationship among crime, criminal justice and the community as well as the impact of crime on local neighborhoods and community institutions. The role of the community in the criminal justice system and processes of social control are also examined. Topics covered include: local measurement of crime statistics; community policing; prevention and early intervention strategies; community corrections and intermediate sanctions. Strategies for empowering local communities to address the quality of life in the urban environment are also explored.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-701 Seminar in Crime & Justice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. A sociological investigation of the relationship between crime and justice in contemporary American society. The possibilities and limits of traditional approaches to crime control are examined in the context of our search for harmony, justice and social change. Problems in evaluating the techniques, goals, and effectiveness of criminal justice agencies and organizations are considered as well as models for rethinking the scope and nature of our responses to crime.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-702 Research Methods
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. This course provides students with the fundamental tools for evaluating, designing and implementing basic and applied empirical research in criminal justice. The association between theories and research methods used in the study of criminal justice is explored through a variety of related data sources. Topics covered include: the principles of research design; issues in measurement; modes of observation; basic methods of data analysis; and ethical concerns. Students will obtain hands-on experience in project design through the development of their own research proposal.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-709 Quantitative Analysis
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Core required course for Master of Science in Crime and Justice Studies. This course introduces students to the foundations of statistical analysis. Topics include: measures of central tendency; dispersion; probability; sampling distributions; hypothesis testing; correlations; and regression. Using SPSS software, students will be required to apply statistical concepts to existing data resulting in a completed research project.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
Electives (4 courses, 12 credits)
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CJ-683 Policing in America
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A sociological examination of contemporary police systems. Attention will be devoted to controversial topics in American policing and will involve comparative analyses with policing in other societies. The major focus of the course is around the relationship of the police and the public. Some examples of topics areas are: policing multicultural populations; managing police discretion; ethnic and gender relations among police personnel; and the rights of defendants.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-685 Seminar in Corrections
Prerequisites:
3 credits
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course will examine the major issues in the adult correctional system. Traditional incarceration as well as pretrial and post-conviction alternatives will be explored. Covered topics may include: prison and jail overcrowding; issues in classification; mental health and incarceration; substance abuse treatment within the prison setting; prison security and disturbances; vocational and educational programming within prisons; ethics and corrections.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-686 Seminar in Juvenile Justice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines the array of issues concerned with the administration and operation of the juvenile justice system. The historical, philosophical, and legal foundations of the juvenile justice system will be examined along with the legal and philosophical changes within the system in contemporary period. Special attention will be given to the Massachusetts model of juvenile corrections and treatment.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-687 Justice & the Community Courts
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines, from the perspective of a working judge, the administration of justice in the community courts. Topics include the role of the judge; relationships between prosecutors, defense lawyers, and the courts; the relationship between the courts and the police; the pros and cons of plea bargaining the goals of sentencing; and the clash between victims rights and defendants rights. Difficult kinds of cases will be addressed, such as cases of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and crime relating to substance abuse. Questions concerning judicial accountability and the role of judges in the community will also be raised.
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CJ-686 Seminar in Juvenile Justice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines the array of issues concerned with the administration and operation of the juvenile justice system. The historical, philosophical, and legal foundations of the juvenile justice system will be examined along with the legal and philosophical changes within the system in contemporary period. Special attention will be given to the Massachusetts model of juvenile corrections and treatment.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-687 Justice & the Community Courts
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines, from the perspective of a working judge, the administration of justice in the community courts. Topics include the role of the judge; relationships between prosecutors, defense lawyers, and the courts; the relationship between the courts and the police; the pros and cons of plea bargaining the goals of sentencing; and the clash between victims rights and defendants rights. Difficult kinds of cases will be addressed, such as cases of domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and crime relating to substance abuse. Questions concerning judicial accountability and the role of judges in the community will also be raised.
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CJ-688 Restorative Justice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Restorative justice is a philosophical framework which poses an alternative to our current way of thinking about crime and justice. Through restorative justice, all the stakeholders to crime - victims, offenders, families, the wider community and the state - are active in response to crime. This course examines both the theoretical foundation of restorative justice rooted in a variety of legal and religious traditions; and the array of practices associated with restorative justice from around the world. Restorative justice philosophy and practice has impacted all areas of the criminal justice system including policing, probation, courts and the correctional programming for juvenile and adult offenders. Students will be afforded a hands-on experience through role-playing, guest speakers and field trips in the application of restorative values to contemporary justice system. Students will examine the meaning of justice in their own experiences, and be challenged to envision a community-based restorative response to crime and violence.
Term:
Offered Spring Term
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CJ-691 Intimate Violence & Sexual Assault
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This seminar focuses on two interrelated types of violence, battering and sexual assault. Both of these crimes have been the subject of intense political organizing, cultural controversy, and criminal justice reform over the past 25 years. Together these issues currently account for a significant portion of the work of the police and courts. The research literature on these topics has increased dramatically in recent years. There are now many studies of women victimized by batterings and rape, and of men who commit these crimes. There is a growing body of research on institutional responses to such violence, particularly criminal justice responses. There is new literature on the racial and class dimensions of this violence, on trauma and recovery, and on battering in lesbian and gay relationships. This course examines these crimes from psychological, sociological, and criminal justice perspectives.
Term:
Offered Fall Term
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CJ-692 Criminal Justice Policy
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course will focus on the policy implications of various sociological theories of crime and punishment. Focus will be on the analysis of various alternative policies within the criminal justice system both within the U.S. and in Europe. Attention will be given to the politics of crime control and to the role of the media, citizen groups and other interest groups in shaping criminal justice policy.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-694 Critical Victimology
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Victimology is the study of crime victims. In the history of criminology and criminal justice, this has been a surprisingly neglected topic. This course investigates the relationship between victims of crime and offenders; the harms suffered by crime victims; recovery from victimization; and the response to crime victims by criminal justice institutions and the helping professions. Critical attention will also be given to victimization occurring within criminal justice institutions as in the case of rape in prisons. Recent changes in criminal justice responses to victims of child abuse, violence against women, and hate crimes will also be addressed. Topics will also include the public reaction to crime victims and recent organizing around victims rights.
Term:
Offered Spring Term
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CJ-695 Special Topics
Prerequisites:
3 credits
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Thematic investigations of problems and topics in criminal justice. Special topics include but are not limited to the areas of domestic violence and sexual assault; children and crime; crime; justice and popular culture; restorative justice; community policing; drugs and the law, drug policy, crime mapping, counterterrorism policy, female offenders and criminalistics.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-704 Legal Issues in Criminal Justice System
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines two subjects throughout the semester: substantive criminal law (e.g. what is money laundering, the insanity defense, conspiracy?); and criminal procedure: 4th Amendment (search and seizure), 5th Amendment (due process, self-incrimination, double jeopardy, etc.), 6th Amendment (right to a lawyer, public trial, etc..), 8th Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment), 14th Amendment (due process, equal protection of law), 1st Amendment (interaction of criminal law with free expression and with religious rights), and 2nd Amendment (firearms). Unlike other similar undergraduate and graduate courses, this one emphasizes principles and case summaries, de-emphasizes actual cases and case names, and does not entail teaching how to brief (summarize) cases.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-705 Class, Race, Gender & Justice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
An in-depth examination of the inequalities within the criminal justice system and its relationship to structural inequalities within the wider society. This course will examine the theoretical and empirical debates on the disparities in law and justice based on race, class and gender. Topics include: wrongful convictions and racial prejudice; the war on drugs and the politics of race; gender and the issue of judicial leniency; victimization and class. Case study materials focus on current debates of seminal issues.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-708 Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Profession
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines the ethics of criminal justice professionals use of deceptive interrogation, undercover operations, confidential informants, excessive force, and fabricated evidence; the ethics of prosecutors, prisons, and whistle-blowing; and administrative approaches, such as ethics training, to ethical problems, such as corruption. Students will learn the major schools of ethical thought, including utilitarianism, ethical formalism, and the ethics of care, so that they can assess situations systematically. The course relies on real-life ethical problems from news outlets and government reports.
Term:
Occasional
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CJ-783 Practicum in Crime & Justice Studies I
Prerequisites:
Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This practicum is designed for the working professional graduate student who does not anticipate a career change but intends to seek advancement in their profession. The purpose of this practicum is to allow the student (1) to integrate what they learned in the classroom with their professional career, (2) to anticipate future opportunities in their profession, and (3) to develop a formal network of well-established colleagues. Students register for one semester and must meet with the practicum advisor in the semester prior to the practicum. Library research, interviewing, and a presentation will be required. Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-784 Practicum in Crime & Justice Studies II
Prerequisites:
Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This practicum is designed for the working professional graduate student who does not anticipate a career change but intends to seek advancement in their profession. The purpose of this practicum is to allow the student (1) to integrate what they learned in the classroom with their professional career, (2) to anticipate future opportunities in their profession, and (3) to develop a formal network of well-established colleagues. Students register for one semester and must meet with the practicum advisor in the semester prior to the practicum. Library research, interviewing, and a presentation will be required.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-786 Internship in Crime & Justice Studies I
Prerequisites:
Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging an internship. 3 credits.
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Placements are designed for the student who has no previous experience in a criminal justice agency or for the professional who wants to make a career change. The primary objective is to provide the student with the opportunity to experience the day-to-day functioning of a criminal justice agency. The student may register for one or two semesters and must meet with the internship advisor in the semester prior to the placement. A minimum commitment of working one day per week per semester (total minimum of 110 hours per semester) is required.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
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CJ-787 Internship in Crime & Justice Studies II
Prerequisites:
Prerequisite: Permission of the director must be obtained prior to arranging a practicum. 3 credits
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Placements are designed for the student who has no previous experience in criminal justice or for the professional who wants to make a career change. The primary objective is to provide the student with the opportunity to experience the day-to-day functioning of a criminal justice agency. The student may register for one or two semesters and must meet with the internship advisor in the semester prior to the placement. A minimum commitment of working one day per week per semester (total minimum of 110 hours per semester) is required.
Term:
Offered Both Fall and Spring
MSMHC Courses (12 courses, 36 credits)
Required Core Courses (6 courses, 18 credits)
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COUNS-713 Counseling: Theory & Practice
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Analysis of selected counseling theories representative of the field of counseling psychology. Theories will be selected from the following areas: Psychoanalytic, Psychosocial, Rational, Cognitive Behavioral/Learning Theory, Person-Centered, and Existential Theory. Treatment goals and techniques will be explored.
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COUNS-716 Psychological Diagnosis
Credits:
3.00
Description:
The study of the nature of mental disorders; central concepts and processes. Psychogenesis, psychodynamics, role of anxiety, and clinical assessment using the DSM-IV.
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COUNS-717 Introduction to Psychological Testing
Prerequisites:
Take COUNS-713;
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Evaluating, administering, scoring, interpreting, and reporting results of standardized tests of personality, academic performance, cognitive functioning, aptitude, and achievement. Self-study development and assessment of testing programs. Critical issues in testing. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-737 Counseling Skills Lab
Prerequisites:
Take COUNS-713;
Credits:
3.00
Description:
An introduction to the fundamental techniques and methods of interpersonal relationships, self-examination, and field visits in relation to the role of the professional counselor. The course will involve skill building through role playing, video and/or audio taping. Normally offered spring semester.
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COUNS-738 Mental Health Counseling Practicum I
Prerequisites:
Take COUNS-713 COUNS-737;
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Application of skills in an assigned field placement (school, agency or industry). Students will spend fifteen hours per week in field work and participate in weekly group sessions at the University for the evaluation of progress. Open only to degree candidates in Mental Health Counseling. Offered fall semester.
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COUNS-739 Mental Health Counseling Practicum II
Prerequisites:
Take COUNS-738
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Continuation of COUNS 738 with an opportunity to assume increased responsibility for clients under supervision. Failure to successfully complete the practicum field experience for any reason following two attempts will result in termination from the program. Offered spring semester.
Electives (6 courses, 18 credits)
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COUNS-701 Child and Adolescent Development
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Examines the childhood, preadolescent and adolescent stages of human development relative to students learning, social development, and parental relationships. Special emphasis will be placed on deviant behavior, social actions, outreach and prevention programs. Ten observation hours required. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-712 Life Span Development
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course examines the process of human development across the lifespan. While it will focus primarily on psychological processes, the intersection with biological and social processes will be explored as well. The major psychological theories of cognitive, social and emotional development will be covered as will the foundations for individual differences. Special emphasis will be placed on topics of interest to people entering the counseling professions. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-714 Psychology of Career Development
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A survey of various theories of vocational choice and development, and strategies for the implementation of vocational counseling in the school, agency, or business/industrial setting. Concepts of work, vocational concerns of women and minorities and other major issues also investigated.
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COUNS-725 Forensic Psychological Assessment
Credits:
3.00
Description:
The interface of psychology and the law will be examined in the context of forensic evaluations performed for courts, attorneys and related agencies or facilities. Topics ranging from Competency to Stand Trial and Criminal Responsibility to termination of parental rights and custody and visitation evaluations will be explored. Practical applications of the skills and knowledge domains needed to perform forensic evaluations will be emphasized, as will the study of relevant laws and regulations as applied to forensic assessment. Discussion will include specialized forensic topics such as the evaluation of juvenile sexual offenders and the forensic use of psychological testing.
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COUNS-726 Family Therapy
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Selected models of family therapy will be explored. Special emphasis will be placed on assessment and the acquisition of treatment strategies proven to be effective for counselors in helping families cope with developmental stresses. Normally offered alternate years.
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COUNS-727 Substance Abuse & Treatment
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A study of the origin, contributing factors, and implications of drug and alcohol misuse. Various stages and manifestations of abuse/ dependence will be considered and current treatment modalities will be explored.
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COUNS-728 Professional Orientation: Ethical/ Legal Issues
Credits:
3.00
Description:
An overview of the legal issues confronting counselors, human services providers and administrators. Study of regulatory and licensing matters, standards of care, confidentiality laws, mental health and disability laws and family law, constitutional issues, malpractice and legal/ethical dilemmas in human services.
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COUNS-729 Human Sexuality Seminar
Credits:
3.00
Description:
The anatomy, physiology and psychology of human sexual functioning are reviewed. Etiology, interpersonal dynamics, and treatment of sexual dysfunctions are reviewed.
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COUNS-730 Diagnosis & Treatment for Personality Disorders
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A theoretical exploration of the nature of personality, a review of the DSM-IV criteria for diagnosing personality disorders and an examination of current treatment approaches.
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COUNS-731 Action Research
Credits:
3.00
Description:
Research designs, methods, and statistics for students in educator preparation programs (school counseling and teacher preparation). The focus of this course is on the practical methods of conducting practitioner-led research, and involves the execution and presentation of an original research project. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-732 Psychological Disorders of Childhood & Adolescence
Credits:
3.00
Description:
This course explores the major psychological disorders of childhood and adolescence from biological, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. Attention-deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Feeding and Eating Disorders, anxiety and depression are among the disorders explored. Student interest determines other topics. Assessment, treatment, and outcome studies are also discussed. Completion of EHS 701 or EHS 712 is recommended before taking this course. Normally offered alternate years.
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COUNS-733 Counsel Diverse Populations
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A survey of problems and issues confronting cultural diversity. The study of ethnicity and sexual orientation as they influence the development of identity. Implications for counseling strategies. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-734 Seminar in Counseling Psychology
Credits:
3.00
Description:
The study of selected topics in counseling and human relations, with the emphasis on problem identification, intervention and remediation.
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COUNS-735 Group Counseling
Credits:
3.00
Description:
A study of the practical and theoretical aspects of counseling small groups. There will be provision for a laboratory experience in which students participate in a group and study the dynamics of behavior as this group develops. Group stages of development and leadership skills will also be examined. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-751 Domestic Violence, Abuse & Neglect
Credits:
3.00
Description:
An opportunity to learn the history of domestic violence including battering, child abuse and child neglect, and the legal response to it. Focus will be on Massachusetts Law and its response, especially the Abuse Prevention Act, its application and enforcement, and on laws protecting children from abuse and neglect. Filings, law office issues and special issues in dealing with battered women and abused and neglected children will be included with the psychological issues, cultural issues, and advocacy possibilities. Normally offered yearly.
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COUNS-910 COUNS Independent Study
Credits:
1.00- 3.00
Description:
Members of the Department will meet with students to direct their research in areas of special interest to them. Projects will be authorized upon the recommendations of the Department Chairperson and with the approval of the Dean.
