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Justice & Policy Studies Course Descriptions

  • JPS 100. Inquiry into Criminal Justice
    Credits: 4. The purpose of this course is to prepare the student for further study about the Criminal Justice System. This will be accomplished by laying a philosophical foundation for the study that will be useful not only to students intending to major in this field, but will be useful to anyone who takes their citizenship responsibilities seriously. This course serves as an opportunity for students to inquire into the role of law in our society. Further, students are encouraged to inquire how justice is defined and applied to people in our society as they assume the roles of independent citizens, subjects of the law, and free human beings. Throughout the course the inquiry seeks to an answer to the primary question “how should morality and the law be connected?” Must be taken at Guilford College. Fulfills business and policies studies requirement.
  • JPS 103. Community Problem Solving
    Credits: 4. Introduces students to processes for building community, critical thinking abilities and community problem-solving skills including identifying the problem, coordinating individuals into groups and assisting the groups to form a feasible plan for solving the problem. Fulfills business and policies studies and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.
  • JPS 150. Special Topics
    Credits: 4. Advanced public policy topics, studied in depth for advanced students. May also be offered at the 250, 350 and 450 levels with examination of current public policy topics, issues and problems at a sophisticated introductory level.
  • JPS 200. Criminal Procedure
    Credits: 4. The study of due process in law; the legal procedures governing a criminal suspect’s civil rights and protections guaranteed under state and federal constitutions; the rules law enforcement officials, prosecutors, magistrates and judges have to follow in investigating crimes; and the body of law which governs the manner in which such rights and rules are to be enforced and wrongs are to be rectified in criminal cases.
  • JPS 201. Criminal Law
    Credits: 4. Substantive law of crime and defenses. Homicide, assault and battery, burglary, crimes of acquisition (larceny, embezzlement, false premises, robbery), conspiracy, criminal agency and corporate liability, accessories, concept of failure to act and negative acts and legal causation.
  • JPS 202. Law Enforcement and Police Roles
    Credits: 4. Survey of the police as a social institution: structure and process of police systems. Organizational and behavioral approaches to policing, with particular emphasis on the problems of maintaining public order under rapidly changing social circumstances. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 203. Punishment and Corrections
    Credits: 4. Survey of the structure of correctional institutions, parole, probation and community-based correctional programs. Students explore various kinds of leadership and ethical challenges they are likely to encounter in a system that is designed to achieve justice and accountability. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 204. Courts: Prosecution and Trial
    Credits: 4. The adjudication process and trial courts as social institutional law and the legal mentality, structure and processes of federal, state and local court systems, and traditional and behavioral approaches to the courts. Current problems: heavy case loads, plea bargaining, changing social norms and sentencing practices. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 220. Community Building Fundamentals
    Credits: 4. An examination of community building as a foundation for peaceful coexistence and responsive leadership. Students learn about the nature of group process as they engage in the experience of building community.
  • JPS 233. Deviance and Society
    Credits: 4. This course focuses on a theoretical examination of deviance and responses to deviance including critical concepts, measurement and operationalization of these concepts, and the utility of theory and reserqach on policy. The historical evolution (emergence, dominance, and decline) of major deviance theories is also examined as well as the main research and policy implications of the state of knowledge in many areas relating to deviance and social control.
  • JPS 244. Conflict Resolution Strategies
    Credits: 4. Students learn about conflict resolution as a path to creative peacemaking, practice styles of communicating and ways of listening that are deeply respectful and affirming. They also learn to integrate effective ways of awareness and being useful in the conflict resolution process and explore kinds of power and their influence on conflict.
  • JPS 260. Research Problems/Independent Study
    Credits: 1-4. Opportunities for upper-level students to conduct individualized research into topics and fields of interest in which courses are not offered. May also be offered at 360 and 460 levels.
  • JPS 262. Restorative Justice
    Credits: 4. Fulfills business and policy studies and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.
  • JPS 270. Interpersonal Communications (PSY 270)
    Credits: 4. This course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the communication process and how this communication process is fundamental to the development of effective relationships. The students will learn techniques for better listening, developing trust and responding to others' needs, as well as the rudiments of conflict resolution.
  • JPS 271. Organizational Communication and Teamwork
    Credits: 4. Focuses on communication among individuals and teams in schools, businesses, government offices and other complex organizations. Students’ current setting in one such organization and their current experiences in others, provide material for examination and reflection. Perspectives from other cultures and the subcultures of class, race and gender within American society are included as appropriate.
  • JPS 290. Internship
    Credits: 4-8. Supervised internship with a criminal justice, public service or volunteer agency. Required for justice and policy studies majors with no prior full-time work experience or current employment in the criminal justice system or in other public service agencies. May be repeated once with a different agency. May also be offered at the 390 level.
  • JPS 301. Criminal Justice Policy and Practice
    Credits: 4. Theories from several scholarly disciplines are put into practice in dealing with criminal justice policy questions. Managerial, psychological, sociological and political-ideological theories are reviewed in their application to issues in American criminal justice, such as drug and alcohol control policy, gun control, policing strategies, correctional philosophies and death penalty questions. Prerequisites: Students must have sophomore standing (at least 24 credits) and at least one lower level JPS course. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 310. Public Management and Organizational Theory
    Credits: 4. Study of managerial principles and the structures of public organizations, the organizational environment and processes of leadership, applying organizational theory, decision-making, planning, staffing, evaluation, internal communication and organizational change as applied in public service agencies. Prerequisite: Students must have taken at least 12 credits at Guilford and at least one lower level JPS course. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 313. Law and Society
    Credits: 4. Introduction to sociological jurisprudence, the legal system, legal institutions as instruments of stability and social change. Also includes law and social processes, legal decision-making, and cross-cultural comparisons of legal systems and legal values. Prerequisites: Students must have sophomore standing (at least 24 credits) and at least one lower level JPS course. Fulfills social justice/environmental responsibility requirement.
  • JPS 320. Ethics in Justice and Policy Studies
    Credits: 4. Ethical standards and considerations for justice and public service agency officials. Examination of causes and consequences of corruption and other unethical behavior of public officials within the criminal justice system and in related agencies of government. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 323. Diversity at Work
    Credits: 4. Explores ways in which individual and group differences influence self-perception and interpersonal communication. Increased understanding and communication skills will enable participants to work more productively with diverse colleagues and social groups. Fulfills diversity in the U.S. requirement.
  • JPS 330. Criminal Investigation
    Credits: 4. Explores the post-crime investigation process from theoretical and practical perspectives. Topics include citizen/suspect interviewing, interrogation, evidence collection/handling, evidence admissibility and the investigation of specific major crimes. Course includes practical examinations, small projects/assignments and demonstrations by professionals. Prerequisite: JPS 202.
  • JPS 333. Criminological Theory
    Credits: 4. Advanced survey of criminological theory, covering sources of data about crime, the socioeconomic characteristics of both offenders and at-risk populations and the nature and theorized causes of criminal offenses.
  • JPS 335. Reclaiming Democracy
    Credits: 4. This course examines theories of democracy in the context of specific issues, both historic and contemporary, in the city of Greensboro. Students identify and analyze pressing contemporary issues, devise strategies to address them, and present their work at a public forum at the end of the semester. Fulfills social justice/environmental responsibility requirement.
  • JPS 339. Research Methods
    Credits: 4. An introduction to the techniques and analytic tools used to conduct research in the areas of criminal justice, public policy and related social sciences.
  • JPS 361. Philosophy of Law Enforcement
    Credits: 4. This course is based on the premise that all police officers are philosophers and need to become better philosophers of law. This course associates the works of famous jurists with the practice of law enforcement. Prerequisite: JPS 202.
  • JPS 365. Race, Society and Criminal Justice
    Credits: 4. Engages students in a dynamic examination of the criminal justice system and the impact of race and racism on its development. Fulfills business and policies studies and social justice/environmental responsibility requirements.
  • JPS 366. Justice
    Credits: 4. This course will consist of a study of classical philosophical thought and its relation to justice from the early Greeks to modern theorists. These classical views will be used to analyze current events and policies of the criminal justice system.
  • JPS 380. Victimology
    Credits: 4. Explores theories associated with crime victims as well as the historical antecedents of victimology. The course also examines the impact of various crimes on primary and secondary victims as well as society and the effectiveness of programs, laws and policies. While the course focuses primarily on the United States, victimization on a global scale will be discussed. Prerequisite: JPS 100 or 103 and JPS 233 recommended.
  • JPS 400. Advanced Problems
    Credits: 4. Selected problem areas in the fields of criminal justice, public policy and public administration examined in depth. Problems examined vary with each offering, and have included issues involving police administration, court administration, jails and prisons, security and crime prevention, death penalty policy, coercion and justice.
  • JPS 424. Trust and Violence
    Credits: 4. Examines ways that trust binds communities together, and violence or the threat of it prevents or destroys trust. The course draws upon applied theory, organizations effective in sustaining trusting communities and experiential learning in trust-building group processes. Fulfills business and policy studies requirement.
  • JPS 425. Family Violence
    Credits: 4. Introduces students to five prevalent family problems: wife abuse, husband abuse, child neglect and abuse, elderly abuse and rape/sexual assault. Central to the course are examinations of causal factors, the psychology of victim and offender, societal impact, treatment and intervention strategies and the criminal justice role and processes. Fulfills social justice/environmental responsibility requirement. Prerequisite: JPS 100 or 103 and JPS 233 recommended.
  • JPS 437. Multicultural Communication Identities and Interaction
    Credits: 4. This interdisciplinary course draws on the theory and practice of cross-cultural communication. Participants will learn to appreciate how not only personality, but also national, ethnic, gender, age and non-dominant versus dominant social affiliation, shapes their values, identity and social interactions.
  • JPS 440. Counseling
    Credits: 4. This course will consist of discussion and application of various counseling models. Specific models discussed will include psychoanalysis, person-centered therapy, transactional analysis, existentialism and rational emotive therapy.
  • JPS 445. Police Brutality and Culture
    Credits: 4. It has been clearly established through research that the lives of police officers are affected by the work they do, the pressures placed on them by the communities they serve and expectations of their superiors. This class will explore the factors influencing individual and institutional responses to these influences. Prerequisite: JPS 202.
  • JPS 447. Basic Group Facilitation
    Credits: 4. Offers an in-depth study of organizational dynamics and procedures. Students will learn the stages of organizational development and the basic facilitation practices that are useful in guiding a group through them.
  • JPS 470. Senior Thesis
    Credits: 4-8. Major research project designed and conducted under the supervision of a faculty member. Prerequisite: JPS 339 or other research methods course.
  • JPS 480. Capstone Seminar
    Credits: 4. This course serves as the culmination course for every criminal justice major. The emphasis is on helping students to apply and hone their skills from their major classes to address contemporary criminal justice problems and issues. Each problem will be examined in relation to its theoretical, methodological, policy, and practical dimensions as well as involve the identification and assessment of the existing state of knowledge.
  • JPS 490. Departmental Honors
    Credits: 4-8.