These are the courses that I am currently teaching at UAlbany. The syllabi are from the most recent semester that the course was taught. Course content and requirements may change for subsequent semesters.
RCRJ 399: Cross-National Crime
The purpose of this course is to describe and understand geographic and temporal variations in the amounts and types of crime across countries. Students will critically examine the data, methods, and theories used to measure and explain crime across nations and over time.
RCRJ 399: Information Use and Misuse
This course will use contemporary examples from the United States, as well as some international data, to explore the ways in which criminal justice information is used for different purposes and to examine some common mistakes made when interpreting such information.
Data Utilization I (previously RCRJ 692, will change to new number):
This course will teach the basics of quantitative data file construction, cleaning, documentation, and use. This is a hands-on computer course where students will learn proper techniques for managing simple datasets. They will also learn how to use SPSS for data management and documentation. Students will apply their technical skills to major criminal justice data collections to learn how the technical and substantive skills are complementary.
RCRJ 692: Data Utilization II
This advanced data utilization course was designed to teach graduate students some of the technical skills needed to work with large and complicated datasets. This course will introduce students to four major criminal justice data collections. There will be opportunities for hands-on classroom experience with some of the complexities of these datasets. The technical skills covered in this course can be applied to other crime and justice data collections, as well as complex datasets from other substantive fields.
RCRJ 695: Responsible Use of Information in Criminal Justice
This course introduces students to the implications of the increased usage of information technology in criminal justice. The discussion is non-technical and the focus is on gaining a broad perspective of the role of information technology in criminal justice rather than learning specific technologies. Topics will include nature of information technology currently in use, future technology needs, legal and ethical concerns regarding information access and expected effects on organizational structure.
