Journals

All students in CJS/SOC 220 are required to maintain a journal of items related to the criminal justice system.

Requirements: Students must purchase a folder (with two pockets) in which they can insert typed journal entries. Each entry must be a half page to a page long (double spaced with a 1.5 inch margin on the left side and typed in arial font, 12 points in size). Each time journals are submitted there must be two new separate entries plus, after the first time, responses to the instructor's comments. That is, each student's journal will be submitted 3 times over the course of the semester and there will be a total of six entries plus two sets of responses to the instructors comments and questions. If your journal entry is based on a written article or on the internet, i.e. if it is based on anything other than a television show or a personal experience, you must make a copy of the article and include it in your journal. Each time you submit your journal entries, please include all of your previous journal entries. As with other assignments in CJS 220, you will not receive any credit for journal assignments submitted late. However, if they are not submitted at all, you cannot pass the course.
Topics: Each journal entry must report on some aspect of the criminal justice system in the United States. Each must include a brief description of the issue and it must include a brief analysis of the issue. During the course of the semester, each student must provide at least one entry that relates to police or other law enforcement agencies, at least one that relates to courts and criminal trials, and at least one that relates to prisons or other corrections systems.
Sources: Sources include newspapers, magazines, the internet (although weblogs are not acceptable), television news reports, etc. and these should be from within the past month. These must be news stories, they cannot be editorials, op-ed pieces, columns based on opinions or blogs. Students may also use personal or family experiences as journal entries (they need not be recent) but no more than one such entry can be used over the course of the semester. Each entry must clearly identify its source. For newspapers, magazines, internet sites, etc., normal citation style should be used. Articles should be substantial, i.e. articles of just a few sentences will not provide for acceptable journal entries.
Evaluation: On dates when journals are collected, students will be asked to volunteer to present one of their journal entries in class. Over the course of the semester, every student must present a journal entry at least once. Evaluation is based on the written material submitted and on your responses to the instructor's questions and observations on your previous entries. Evaluation of the journal entries depends most heavily on your thoughtful and inciteful analysis of the issues that you discuss, remembering that analysis is to be based on the concept of myths about crime and criminal justice. See the journal rubric on the course home page for guidance.
Feedback: Each time your journal is submitted, the first new page must be a response to all questions and/or observations the instructor wrote in the journal when it was last submitted. If the instructor indicated the he couldn't follow a particular part of your journal, rewrite that part. If he indicates you didn't do enough analysis, do more analysis in your response. You MUST respond to all questions and comments made by the instructor.
Schedule: In the 1:00 p.m. section, Group 1 includes all students whose last names begin with the letters A-H. Group 2 then includes all students whose last names begin with the letters I-Z. In the 2:30 p.m. section, Group 1 includes all students whose late names begin with the letters A-D. Group 2 includes all students whose last names begin with the letters E-Z. The syllabus indicates when journals are due.