CJUS 200 Introduction to Criminal Justice

An introductory course covering an overview of the whole criminal justice system in America, including discussion of law enforcement generally, the court systems, correctional organizations, the history of law enforcement in the U.S. and some other nations, and the ethics and philosophy of criminal justice generally.

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.

Course Guide

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*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.


The purpose of this course is to expose the learner to introductory-level essential elements of the criminal justice system and to introduce critical thinking skills on biblical, ethical, and public policy levels as related to the study of Criminal Justice.


Textbook readings and lecture presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (3)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will complete 3 Discussions in this course. The student will post one thread of between 300-400 words, demonstrating course-related knowledge in response to the provided discussion prompt. For each thread, the student must support his or her assertions with at least 3 scholarly citations in APA format. Specifically, 1 citation will refer to the course materials, 1 citation will refer to the Bible, and the third may refer to a scholarly article published within the last five years. The student must then post 1 reply of at least 100 words. Replies to classmates must advance the discussion through a biblical worldview supported by at least 1 scripture. 

Read and Interact Textbook Assignments (14)

Within this course, the student will be assigned to read and interact with the textbook within the third party platform, Connect. The student must complete each reading and item in the textbook in order to earn the points associated with the assigned reading. 

Application Essay Assignments (3)

The student is required to write a 400-word response to each question posed in the instructions for each Application Essay Assignment assigned. For each question, the student must support his/her assertions with at least 3 in-text citations in current APA format.

Interactive Exercise

You Make the Call activities gives the student the opportunity to learn and apply discretion by placing him or her in the role of a police officer in an engaging and interactive format.

Reflection Paper Assignment

The student will submit a 400-word summative assessment of his or her understanding of law enforcement, the courts, and the correctional system. The student will be required to include 3 in-text citations in current APA format.

Quiz: Bill of Rights Pre-Quiz

The student’s prior knowledge of the Bill of Rights will be assessed by this 10-question, multiple-choice test. The student has unlimited attempts to achieve the entire 10 points.

Quiz: Bill of Rights

This quiz will assess the student’s knowledge of the Bill of Rights near the end of the course. The quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 10 multiple-choice questions, and have a 15-minute time limit.


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