Flex Credit for CJJ 4015 Juvenile Justice Systems

Instructor: Mary Ann Zager, Ph.D.

In order to obtain credit for CJJ 4015 Juvenile Justice Systems through the Flex Credit program, students must demonstrate proficiency of the material in the course and the connectedness of that information to the student's previous experience and training.  Do not register for the course prior to discussing it with me.  You may successfully complete all of the requirements for Flex Credit prior to registering and paying for the course, or you may register for it the semester that you do the work.

Any student who wishes to complete the Flex Credit for this course must have at least five years experience in the criminal justice field, plus 60 semester hours of credit.  

Credit is granted for the course upon successful completion of two objectives:

1. Complete a comprehensive examination of the course material.  This exam will be primarily short essay questions. Before the exam, you will need to choose and read copies of 3 reports or bulletins regarding the juvenile justice system, and mail or e-mail copies to me. A great place to find these is the NCJRS website. I will write the exam and include some questions based on those articles. 

After I have graded your exam, I will evaluate the extent of your knowledge in the core areas of juvenile justice:

• the historical development of juvenile justice
  contemporary juvenile justice policies and programs

• information technology and utilization in gathering information and communication

• importance of team collaboration to problem solving in juvenile justice

• importance of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary issues in juvenile justice

• ability to use critical thinking and reasoning skills in reaching conclusions

The purpose of the exam is to assess your knowledge in these areas. Any area that is weak will be covered in your paper/project. 

2. Write a paper to raise the exam grade (if necessary). This paper shall integrate published research on a specific juvenile delinquency topic and your personal experiences and training in that context.  The paper content will be discussed after the exam is graded.  The subject matter and style will be approved by the professor. The paper will rely on three types of information: scholarly journal articles, empirical research, and your professional experiences. The finished paper will be approximately 6-10 pages long (this depends on the results of your exam).

  Flex Credit will be graded on a letter grade basis (A, B, C, D, F).  It will affect your GPA. Your letter grade in the course will be based on a combination of the exam and the paper. If your exam is stellar, you don't have to write a paper. If your exam has weak areas, you will address those in your paper. I will give you a specific breakdown of your grade scale after I read your exam.

The following topics are likely to be covered on the exam:

The Philosophy of the Juvenile Justice System: Parens Patrie
The History of Juvenile Justice in the United States
State and Local Reforms
Measuring Juvenile Delinquency and Offender Demographics: In Florida and across the country
Causes of Delinquency
Risk and Protective Factors
Important Juvenile Court Acts
Juvenile Justice Procedures: Police, Courts, Corrections
Juvenile Justice Policing
Decision Makers and Decision Making
Prevention and Diversion
Disposition Alternatives and Program Balance
Youth Violence
Gangs 
The Future of Juvenile Justice

If you are a FAR student (outside the 5 county area), you may have the exam proctored. Details of this process are linked here.

If you have any questions about the process, the content, study questions, etc. please feel free to email or call me.