Syllabus


CCJ 4938 Crime and Justice in an Emerging Democracy Summer 2006--Prague
Last updated June 15, 2006

Cecil E. Greek, Ph.D.
FSU College of Criminology and Criminal Justice

 

Contact Points:


cgreek@mailer.fsu.edu
850-906-0340 (home phone)
850-644-4746 (office)
850-339-4268 (Tally cell)

775 325 290 (Prague cell)

850-644-9614 (fax)

Web Homepage: http://home.earthlink.net/~cegreek/index.html

Photo Page: http://www.pbase.com/cgreek/root

 

Required Text:

 

A coursepack of readings must be purchased from Target Copy in Tallahassee prior to leaving for Prague. It can be mailed to you by Target if you are not in Tallahassee during the first summer semester. They are at 635 W. Tennessee Street. Phone is 850-224-3007 or email Ashleigh Holand at ashleigh@targetcopy.com

 

 

Overview:

 

This course is designed to give you both an academic and a practical view of the problem of crime and crime control in an emerging democracy, specifically focusing on the criminal justice system in the Czech Republic. Understanding the process of transforming a criminal justice system from an arm of the totalitarian state to an independent entity operating under democratic “rule of law” principles will be a major course focus. The current crime problems in the Czech Republic will be detailed. Police, courts and prison systems will be discussed, along with how European Union membership has impacted upon these components.

 

Course Objectives:

 

  • The student will be able to state the general historical patterns as former Soviet dominated countries gained independence and set up their own political and criminal justice systems. As the Czech Velvet Revolution was a bloodless power transferal, comparison will be made to how these changes also transpired in neighboring countries in the region.

 

  • The student will adopt the comparative method as a form of critical thinking about one’s own society and its social control structures. Comparison assists in overcoming ethnocentric perspectives.

 

  • The student will be able to apply experiential knowledge drawn from field visits and lectures by practitioners to develop a more complete understanding of the everyday workings of criminal justice systems.

 

 

Course Format:   

            

There will be five major topics in the course: policy and law since Velvet Revolution, crime and victimization, policing, courts, and corrections. The course consists of lectures, readings and field trips. Students will prepare and give a ten minute presentation dealing with one of the four major sections, starting in week 2 (crime, police, courts, corrections); covering how the criminal justice system was working before and after the Velvet Revolution.  Students will be responsible to attend all classes and related field trips. 

 

Week by Week Topics in Class:

 

(Read the section of the readings on the topic for each week)

 

Week 1: Course Overview, What is an Emerging Democracy?

Week 2: Crime and Victimization

Week 3: Police (Guest Speaker Miroslav Scheinost)

Week 4:  (no class) We will be at the police academy in Hradec Karlove.

Week 5: Courts (Guest Speaker Valkova)

Week 6: Prisons

 

Course Readings Package (updated April 2006)

 

 

Table of Contents

 

Overall Czech CJ System Guide:
1. The Criminal Justice System in the Czech Republic

 

Readings by Week

 

(Week 1)

 

  1. Background Note: Czech Republic (U.S. State Dept.)
  2. Ministry of Justice: Czech Republic  (chart)
  3. From Poland to Ukraine, Self-Limiting Democracy Bears Democratic Fruit by Richard Wolin (Chronicle of Higher Education)

 

(Week 2)

 

  1. Criminology in the Czech RepublicMiroslav Scheinost
  2. Institute of Criminology and Crime Prevention (both versions)
  3. White Circle of Safety (2 documents)
  4. Recent Crime Prevention Initiatives in the Czech Republic (ICPC International Observer)
  5. Criminality in 2001-- Institute of Criminology and Crime Prevention
  6.  Structure of Crime Charts (multiple pages)
  7.  Age of Consent to Sexual Activity—Czech Republic
  8.  Trafficking in Human Beings—The Case of the Czech Republic (UN)
  9.  Don’t Legalize: The Czech Republic Proposes a Dutch Solution to Sex Trafficking--Donna Hughes (National Review Online)
  10.  Social Causes and Consequences of Organized Crime (ICSP)
  11.  Often Shunted in Special Schools, Gypsies Fight Back (NY Times)
  12.  Czech Drug Laws as an Arena of the Drug Policy Battle by Tomas Zabransky (Journal of Drug Issues)
  13.  Socially Pathological Manifestations Among Children (ICSP)
  14.  Selected Criminological and Legal Aspects of Domestic Violence (ICSP)
  15.  Interethnic Conflicts as a Result of Racial Hatred (ICSP)

 

(Weeks 3 and 4)

 

  1.  Czech Police Officers---Matt Crow et al (Policing)
  2.  An Overview of Policing in the Czech Republic  by Tara Shelley

21B: Czech Police Integrity Study

  1.  Police Training College (brochure)

 

(Week 5)

 

23. Czech Republic: Rights and Freedoms
24. Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic

25. Judicial System of the Czech Republic

 

 

(Week 6)

 

26. An Overview of Remand Prisons in the Czech Republic

27. Prison Population Chart

28. The Czech Republic by Helena Valkova et al. From: Imprisonment Today and Tomorrow by Kluwer Publications (2001). Pp.150-173.

29. Pankrac (Czech Prison History Museum)

30. The Drug Problem in Czech Prisons (ICSP)

 

 

 

Course Assignments:

 

Students will be required to present a short talk on one of the above topics in class, complete blog entries as required, and complete a final exam. The focus of the student class presentations will be comparisons of criminal justice in the Czech Republic before and after the Velvet Revolution (shift from communism to democratic rule of law). What do you find remarkably similar or different? What issues surprised you and why? Course readings, Internet sources and library information must be incorporated.

 

Field Trips*:

Police Museum

Communist Museum

Court System and Penal Code

Hradec Kralove Police Department

Tour Training Academy

Pankrac Prison and Museum

 

*Specific dates of trips will be provided when we arrive in the Czech Republic.

 

 

 

In Class Presentations:

 

Directions: In weeks 2-6 the class will be divided into small groups and each week one group will present a comparison on aspects of the week’s topic. In particular, the presentation must include discussion of the issue before and after the shift from communism to a democratic society under the “rule of law.”  For example, in week 2 the small group can assign specific subtopics to members such as: (a) organized crime in the Czech Republic (b) property crime (c) violent crime (d) drugs (e) prostitution (f) the collection of crime stats (g) women as crime victims, etc. Police subtopics could include training, SWAT teams, police misconduct, community policing, etc. For example, there are lots of English documents on the Czech ministry of interior website at http://www.mvcr.cz/dokument/index.html  The reports on public order and internal security are overviews of the Czech crime situation and include annual crime data (similar to FBI UCR reports).

 

Each group member will prepare a 10 minute presentation on one of the subtopics. Presentation should include a basic PowerPoint presentation. Last slide must include a complete bibliography in APA format (http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/ccj2020/apa.htm ) of the sources you used. PowerPoint files should then be uploaded to the course Blackboard site so that students can access these to study for the exam. Start your research with the related essays in the reader as first sources. You will need to supplement these materials with Internet searches, including using FSU’s scholarly databases. For how to search scholarly databases, see: http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/book/fsudatabases.doc More on searching the Internet for scholarly materials at: http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/book/chapter8.htm

 

Class Participation:

 

Class participation grades will be based upon a combination of attendance and personal blogs. We will use the FSU Facebook site at http://fsu.facebook.com/home.php for the blogs. In particular, make sure you join the Prague 2006 CED class group site so that we can easily access your blogs. Group is called: Prague 2006 CED class. You will expected to post a blog entry on your personal Facebook page Wall for each course-related field trip, guest speaker or class video; detailing the core experiences of the trip/speakers/video plus your reactions. You may include photos of the field trip, etc. Overall, your blog entries will be worth up to 200 points (plus 100 points total for class attendance. Missing a major field trip such as the police academy will result in a major grade penalty.).

 

Final Exam:

 

Final exam will cover all readings, field trips, gust lecturers and class videos. Exam will be multiple choice type (50 questions). 100 possible points.

 

Grading:

 

Student’s grades will be based on the class PowerPoint presentations (100 points), final multiple choice exam (100 points), and attendance and participation (300 points: 200 for blogs, 100 for attendance). Students will be required to attend all lectures and mandatory events (field trips). Given the nature of this course, class attendance is essential. Without proof of medical or other verified emergency, students are expected to attend all classes and required field trips. One unexcused absence from a class or required field trip will result in a one letter grade reduction. Two unexcused absences will result in a two letter grade penalty. Those missing more than two classes/field trips will fail the course.

 

 

Grading Scale:       

500 Total Points Possible

                                                                      

 

465-500         A

450-464         A-

430-449         B+

411-429         B

400-410         B-

380-399         C+

370-379         C

350-369         C-

344-359         D+

310-343         D
300-310         D-

<300               F

 

Graduate Students Additional Requirements:

 

Graduate students will be required to complete an additional term paper on a specific aspect of crime in the Czech Republic or a specific aspect of the Czech criminal justice system. Paper must compare the Czech and the United States on the chosen topic, in addition to discussion of the communist and post-communist eras in the Czech Republic. The paper will be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length and must follow standard APA citation and reference format. Print out the guide for APA from: http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/ccj2020/apa.htm

 

Honor Code: 

 

Students are expected to uphold the Academic Honor Code published in The Florida State University Bulletin and the Student Handbook.

The Academic Honor System of The Florida State University is based on the premise that each student has the responsibility (1) to uphold the highest standards of academic integrity in the student’s own work, (2) to refuse to tolerate violations of academic integrity in the university community, and (3) to foster a high sense of integrity and social responsibility on the part of the university community.

 

 

Students with Disabilities: 

 

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should: (1) be registered with the Student Disability Resource Center on his or her own campus; (2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation and what type.  This should be done during the first week of class.  This syllabus may be made available in an alternate format upon request.

 

Mandatory First Day Attendance Policy:

 

All students are required to attend the first day of class or they are dropped from FSU courses.

 

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