Vanderbilt University - Hot Topics in Criminal Justice
- Offered byCoursera
- Public/Government Institute
Hot Topics in Criminal Justice at Coursera Overview
Duration | 19 hours |
Total fee | Free |
Mode of learning | Online |
Difficulty level | Beginner |
Official Website | Explore Free Course  |
Credential | Certificate |
Hot Topics in Criminal Justice at Coursera Highlights
- Shareable Certificate Earn a Certificate upon completion
- 100% online Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
- Flexible deadlines Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
- Beginner Level
- Approx. 19 hours to complete
- English Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, English, Spanish
Hot Topics in Criminal Justice at Coursera Course details
- The American criminal justice system is in need of reform. We incarcerate too many people. We pay insufficient attention to scientific advances that can help separate out the most and least culpable and dangerous. We grant the police far too much power to use force and technological surveillance.
- As a way of thinking about dealing with these problems, this course examines two over-arching issues: What should we do with people who have committed crime, and how should we identify who they are? On the first issue, we will look closely at the nature and causes of mass incarceration, the death penalty, the lawfulness and usefulness of preventive detention and risk assessment, and the role of the insanity defense and neuroscience in assessing responsibility for crime. On the second issue, we will explore the laws regulating the police use of force, the growing role of technology and big data in facilitating police surveillance and detection and deterrence of crime, and the remedies for police malfeasance, including the exclusionary rule and damages actions.
- The overall goal is to help thinking individuals assess today?s criminal justice system and consider ways of making it better. After completing this course, participants should be able to:
- 1. Describe the mass incarceration problem in the United States and why it might exist;
- 2. Suggest ways of reducing incarceration;
- 3. Criticize risk assessment instruments and their use in preventive detention schemes;
- 4. Discuss the pros and cons of the death penalty, the exclusionary rule, and the insanity defense;
- 5. Analyze the relevance of neurological evidence in a criminal case;
- 6. Identify some of the reasons innocent people are wrongly convicted;
- 7. Elaborate on the role race plays at sentencing and in police use of force, stop and frisk and consent searches and
- 8. List the types of surveillance technology available to police and the constitutional principles that govern their use.
Hot Topics in Criminal Justice at Coursera Curriculum
Mass Incarceration
Welcome and Course Introduction (4:34)
Incarceration Rates in the United States and Europe (7:29)
Legal Reasons for Differences Between U.S. and European Incarceration Rates (11:00)
Cultural Reasons for Differences Between U.S. and European Incarceration Rates (15:40)
Additional Cultural Reasons for Differences Between U.S. and European Incarceration Rates (19:08)
Can Incarceration Trends Be Reversed? (8:29)
Incarceration and Crime Rates
The Impact of Mass Incarceration
Culture and Punishment
Recent Developments in Imprisonment Policies
Punishment & Prevention
Introduction: Reducing Reliance on Harsh Prison Terms (8:28)
Purposes of Punishment (11:36)
The Accuracy of Sentencing Determinations (11:09)
Treatment Programs (10:48)
The Autonomy Principle (11:32)
Pure Preventive Detention (14:50)
Purposes of Punishment
Understanding the Purposes of Punishment
Sentencing Factors
What works?
Preventive Detention Schemes
Insanity & Neuroscience
Cases in Which the Insanity Defense is Raised (10:14)
Legal Definitions of Defenses Based on Mental Disability (17:19)
The Outer Boundaries of Mental State Defenses (15:47)
Legal Claims Based on Neuroscience and Neurogenetics (17:31)
Mental Disability and Dispositions After Conviction (12:56)
Insanity Defense Facts
Mental State Defense Formulations
The Relevance of Neuroscience
Alternative Systems
The Death Penalty
History and Structure of the Death Penalty (11:05)
Economics of the Death Penalty & Interrogations (11:40)
Eyewitness Identifications (15:11)
Labs and Adversarialism (16:09)
The Influence of Elections, Jury Confusion, and Race on Death Sentences (13:23)
The Death Penalty Worldwide
Causes of Wrongful Convictions--Part 1
Causes of Wrongful Convictions--Part 2
Cause of Wrongful Convictions -- Part 3
Causes of Improper Sentences
Police Use of Force
How Often do Police Use Force and Against Whom? (12:40)
The Law of Deadly Force and Stop and Frisk (12:07)
The Law of Car Stops and Searches (14:48)
The Exclusionary Rule and Damages Remedies (16:11)
Oversight Boards, Training, and Structural Reforms (21:47)
Police Use of Force Data
The Law of Car Searches
Remedies for Fourth Amendment Violations
Alternatives to the Court System
Police Surveillance
The Definition of Search Under the Fourth Amendment (12:09)
The Knowing Exposure, General Public Use and Contraband-Specific Doctrines (14:41)
The Assumption of Risk Doctrine (20:15)
Reasons to Regulate Police Surveillance (12:09)
The Scope of the Fourth Amendment
The Definition of "Search"
The Impact of Surveillance
End of Course Final Quiz
End of Course Final Quiz
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