Course Detail

CJ 422 Probation, Parole and Community Correction

CJ 422 IS Sec 1, University of Mississippi
[See UM Catalog for Description]

3 credit hours

Instructor Information:

Instructor name:
Dr. Linda Keena

Dr. Linda Keena obtained her Bachelor's (1984) and Master's (1991) degrees in Criminal Justice from Southeast Missouri State University and her Doctorate (2006) from the University of Missouri. She is a former State of Missouri Adult Probation and Parole officer and for the last twenty years has taught various corrections courses, community and institutional based.

She has established a record of scholarly publications which reflects a variety of criminal justice, restorative justice, religion, corrections, and community-based research topics. In addition, she is co author and project director for MEDFELS, a nationally recognized methamphetamine program for elementary schools.

Finally, Dr. Keena is the co-director of the Violence Prevention Office, a program funded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice, aimed at educating students and staff about realities of sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking.

Contact Information:

If you have questions concerning the content of the course, you may contact the instructor directly using the Email Your Instructor link in the Lessons or Content page. NOTE: Whenever sending email, please be sure to indicate your course title and number in the subject line. You can expect a response within 72 hours, although it may be longer on weekends. Many instructors reply within 24 hours.

For lesson or test administration issues, please contact the iStudy department:

Course Description

This 13-lesson independent study course is an examination of probation, parole, and community-corrections that provides historical, philosophical, social, and legal contexts and integrates real-life practice to the greatest extent possible. The course consists of four units. Each unit contains three or four lessons that include a reading assignment, a quiz, and a corresponding exercise. At the end of each unit, there is a required written essay. There are two exams, a midterm at the end of Unit II and a final exam at the end of Unit IV.

Textbook Information:

Textbook information will be provided upon enrollment in your iStudy course.

Course Objectives:

Objectives include (but are not limited to):

1. To analyze the theories behind correctional goals of punishment and rehabilitation and how supervision philosophies and styles have changed in the United States;
2. To understand the importance of evidence-based practices to evaluating effectiveness and achieving correctional goals;
3. To critically examine the demographics of parolees today, how parole was implemented, and the reasons why discretionary parole was replaced by mandatory release;
4. To compare and contrast the differences among pretrial release, pretrial supervision, and diversion and how structured and unstructured sentencing affects judicial discretion;
5. To understand the importance of assessment in identifying risk and needs in case management, especially as it relates to special needs offenders; and
6. To analyze the legal rights and collateral consequences for probationers and parolees during reentry, supervision, and revocation proceedings.

Course Outline:

This course consists of 15 instructional modules (or lessons). Please note that the suggested Pacing Guide to complete the course in a traditional semester is written for Fall and Spring. Full summer students need to make adjustments due to the significantly shorter time period involved.

Grading:

Each lesson submitted will be read and given a numerical grade. If you make below a 60 on 5 lessons you will fail the course. Also, if receive a grade below 60 on a lesson, you will be expected to re-do that lesson and resubmit it to the instructor. As for your 2 course exams and Final exam, you will be graded using a letter scale of A, B, C, D, F. The final grade will be calculated as follows:

GRADING SCALE
90 - 100% = A
80 - 89% = B
70 - 79% = C
60 - 69% = D
Below 59% = F

FAILURE TO TAKE THE FINAL EXAM WILL RESULT IN FAILURE OF THE COURSE.

You must submit the lessons required to take the course exam(s). Lessons required but not submitted will receive a grade of zero. For the final exam, all coursework must be submitted and graded.