Criminal Justice & Mediation Combination Program

As this is one of our combination programs, you will find that there are two different course descriptions; one for each portion of the program:

Criminal Justice:
The Criminal Justice program provides a comprehensive understanding of the American justice system and its occupations. This program contains many topics regarding traditional justice issues such as effective policing, courts, causes of crime, prisons, sentencing, probation, and the types of crime. Legal standards and current events are used to explain ethical conduct, the usage of various criminal policing tools, and the challenges of balancing security against liberty. Learner’s study: the prevalence of DNA technology & electronic surveillance, U.S. citizens’ constitutional protections, non-traditional occupations, and Social Media Career Tips. Participants determine where their skills and interests are best suited for acquiring professional job satisfaction and career success. With 24-hour access to course materials, many innovative tools encourage active learning. Videos, miniessays, and short lessons test further knowledge. Class Discussions keep learners connected and participatory. Freedom of choice among some coursework allows students to focus on their areas of interest. Each student is easily able to monitor their course completion status. By the end of the course, many of the assignments and discussions become resourceful tools for local employment searching, protections against cybercrime, and blatant professional misconduct avoidance.

Mediation:
Mediation and dispute resolution are rapidly growing fields of study and sought-after skills in the workplace. This comprehensive course provides the core skill sets necessary for the practice of mediation. As it becomes more and more apparent that individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and nations must begin to work together in peaceful ways for the common good, mediation and dispute resolution are poised to become increasingly popular. In mediation, a neutral third party, the mediator, works with both sides of a dispute to have them agree on their terms, without someone else deciding what is best for them. Students are guided through stages of mediation and how these stages apply to actual case studies of mediation. Students are offered an overview of the nature of conflict and differing styles of human interaction and are asked to explore their unique style of engaging or avoiding conflict and how this might affect their role as a mediator. The course presents an overview of theories of conflict and power, influences of gender and culture, and how each helps inform a mediator’s interventions. The vital skill set of negotiation, including how to apply negotiation techniques, the critical issue of timing and caucuses, and other techniques to deal with impasses in the mediation, are presented. The course covers the standards and ethics of this growing profession. Students learn core people skills such as reflective listening, impartiality, reframing, effective communication, and the handling of critical moments.