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Class Assignments
Chapter 1    An Introduction to Criminal Justice

Look at any of the following Web resources and give your views and comments about what you checked and how this will be helpful in clarifying some of the materials mentioned in the chapter.

(1)    National Criminal Justice Reference Service
(2)    Criminal Justice Links (Florida State University, School of Criminology
(3)    The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
(4)    The American Society of Criminology
(5)    Crimes of the Century


Chapter 2    The Crime Picture

View the attached files below and make a brief assessment of each, noting specific patterns and trends that you can discern or observe from these crime data.

(1)  US UCR Crime Statistics, 1998
(2)  Pittsburgh Crime Statistics
(3)  Violent & Property Crimes, 1960-1998

The following selected websites are also useful resources.  In what way(s) are these useful in characterizing or depicting crime?  

•   The FBI Uniform Crime Report
•   The Disaster Center's US Crime Statistics
•   The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
•   The Bureau of Justice Statistics
•   The Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center

Chapter 3    The Search for Causes

See how the following websites can be useful tools in learning more on theories on crime causation:

•   CrimeTheory.com
•   The Crime Mapping Research Center
•   The Jeremy Bentham Project and CrimeTimes are specific web resources that contain materials in support of particular theoretical approach to crime.
•   Also see Criminal Justice 2000, Vol. 1, The Nature of Crime: Continuity and Change, more specifically the article by Charles R.Tittle, "Theoretical Developments in Criminology."

Chapter 4    Criminal Law

Familiarize yourself with some basic concepts and concerns on Criminal Law.  
Check the following websites and webpages which presents and discusses the following topics:

•   The Code of Hammurabi
•   Common Law
•   The Rule of Law

State Criminal Statutes:  See if you can compare criminal law statutes of Pennsylvnia and another state of your choice.

Know Your Right
Law Directories and Search Site


Chapter 5    Policing: History and Structure

Find out about the history, organization, mission statement and other relevant information about the federal and local law enforcement organizations that are referred regularly in our class sessions:  

•   Federal Bureau of Investigation
•   Pittsburgh Bureau of Police

For a list of federal law enforcement organizations and their links, see the Department of Justice website.  Also, refer to Table 5-2 in our textbook.

To make your choice of a specific State Police Agency for your second paper, go to: The Official Directory for State Patrol and State Police

To make your choice of a specific Local Law Enforcement agency for your second paper, go to: the Local Law Enforcement Directory

Useful police resource webistes:

•   CopTopics.com
•   Officer.com

Recent Reports on Policing

•   Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response
•   The New Structure of Policing: Description, Conceptualization, and Research Agenda, July 2001
•   The Kansas City Gun Experiment
•   National Weed and Seed Program Ealuation

Check these Private Protection Services websites
•   Pinkerton & Burns
•   Wackenhut Security

Chapter 6    Police Management

An influential article on the philosophy of Community Policing

The Community Policing Consortium is an informative resource on the implementation of Community Policing

CAPS:  Chicago’s Alternative Policing Strategy

An article on Women in the Police Force

Chapter 7    Policing: Legal Aspects

SEARCHES AND SEIZURES
Exclusionary Rule
Weeks v U.S.
Fruit of the Poisoned Tree Doctrine
Silverthorne Lumber Co. v U.S.
Exclusionary Rule applicable to the states
Mapp v Ohio
Searches incident to lawful arrest, limited to area of control of suspect
Chimel v California
Exceptions to Exclusionary Rule
Good Faith
U.S .v Leon
Plain View Doctrine
Harris v U.S.
Emergency searches of property
Warden v Hayden


ARREST
“Free to leave” test (determined by the totality of the circumstance
Mendenhall v U.S.
Searches Incident to an arrest
Robinson v U.S.
Stop & Frisk exception
Terry v Ohio
Emergency searches of persons
Sanders v Arkansas
Vehicle searches
Carroll v U.S.
Suspicionless searches
National Treasury Employees Union v Von Raob


THE INTELLIGENCE FUNCTION
Informants
“Two-pronged” rule
Aguilar v Texas
Police interrogation
physical abuse
Brown v Mississippi
inherent coercion
Ashcroft v Tennessee
psychological manipulation
Leyra v Denno
The right to a lawyer
Escobedo v. Illinois
Suspect’s rights
Miranda v Arizona
Miranda rights Waiver (knowing & intelligence)
Moran v Burbine
Miranda rights Exceptions (inevitable discovery; public safety
Nix v Williams; Quarles v New York



Chapter 8    The Courts

The National Center of State Courts: Check its web resources on state-level courts.
The Federal Judiciary Homepage: A web resource on the Federal Court System.
Northwestern University's Supreme Court Project:  A virtual tour of the supreme court, a brief sketch of its Justices and a resource for SC cases.
Pennsylvania Judicial System  In the STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA website, go to, Government, and then click on Judiciary, click on Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts, then click on UJS (Unified Judicial System)

Chapter 12    Prisons and Jaila

Prison Era Image