www.onlinecriminaljustice.net

To kick this section off, we start with the crime blotter out of Bath, New York.  For all of you who have no idea where this is, it’s in upstate New York.  State Police of Painted Post arrested a 49 year old man for driving while intoxicated on a lawn tractor and resisting arrest following a complaint on May 22, 2009.  He was remanded to the Steuben County Jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 property bond.

Here are a few out of Quay County, New Mexico.  On Thursday, June 4, 2009 a female reported a small snake crawled up onto her engine compartment on east Route 66.  An officer assisted the motorist.  Later that day a Ute Lake male reported to the Ute Lake Police that juveniles stole a bottle of rum from his ice chest. 

Now a few from Chattanooga, TN.  A woman  said she was driving home in her 1997 Honda Accord to Sheridan Avenue in East Chattanooga when a black female she knows only as “Prunie” rear-ended her with a white Saturn twice.  She said it happened at Sheridan and Wilson, then as she was trying to get into her driveway.
Her three-year-old daughter was in the car with her. She said “Prunie” was hollering the whole time, “You mad cause I’m f*%#$ing  your man.”  

A man reported that he broke up with his 17 year old girlfriend a few months ago, but she continues to show up at his apartment. He said in the most recent incident she had placed a fishing rod on his porch and attached at the end a note with her address on it.

Let’s swing over to Lebanon, PAand check out what they have to offer. A Lebanon woman was charged Thursday with attempting to provide a false urine sample to the Lebanon County Adult Probation Department.  She was already on probation for a prior criminal conviction, was required to provide a urine sample Tuesday for drug and alcohol testing at the department, police said.  She  is accused of attempting to give the parole officers someone else’s urine.  Meanwhile, a man was charged with allowing grass and weeds on his property to grow higher than 12 inches .  Slow day in Lebanon I’m guessing.

Let’s do one more, from my home state, Joliet, Illinois. An senior citizen said she has gotten mysterious telephone calls for more than a year and that they have impacted her quality of life.  The 81-year-old woman told police she has received the strange calls since May 2008. “Nearly every day for the past year she has received two to three calls per day from a subject who makes a mumbling or babbling sound and does not speak,” police said. “The calls are very disruptive to her lifestyle.”  One would think that if the calls where bothering her so much, she wouldn’t have waited a year to report them……hmmmmmm……

Okay, so there is a good chance right this minute that a crime is occurring.  Almost every paper has a crime blotter or police blotter, so why not here?  I don’t have the time it takes to put EVERY blotter up, so what I’ve decided to do is point out interesting crimes or odd crimes that I come across, in this section.  Fell free to add your own.

You know, it’s not all murder, domestic violence, burglary and robbery out there.  Police officers and investigators deal with some very strange things on a daily basis, and, well, here you will find some of those strange things.

Ok, so maybe you want to major is criminal justice, but you don’t like science.  Well, that rules out forensic technician and maybe you don’t really want to spend your eight hours riding in a squad car.  What do you do?  Well my friend, you look into a career as a correctional officer.

The jail population changes constantly as some are released, some are convicted and transferred to prison, and new offenders are arrested and enter the system. Correctional officers in local jails admit and process about 12 million people a year, with about 700,000 offenders in jail at any given time. Correctional officers in State and Federal prisons watch over the approximately 1.5 million offenders who are incarcerated there at any given time.   

Correctional officers maintain security and inmate accountability to prevent disturbances, assaults, and escapes. Officers have no law enforcement responsibilities outside the institution where they work.   Regardless of the setting, correctional officers maintain order within the institution and enforce rules and regulations. To help ensure that inmates are orderly and obey rules, correctional officers monitor the activities and supervise the work assignments of inmates. Sometimes, officers must search inmates and their living quarters for contraband like weapons or drugs, settle disputes between inmates, and enforce discipline. Correctional officers periodically inspect the facilities, checking cells and other areas of the institution for unsanitary conditions, contraband, fire hazards, and any evidence of infractions of rules. In addition, they routinely inspect locks, window bars, grilles, doors, and gates for signs of tampering. Finally, officers inspect mail and visitors for prohibited items.

Correctional officers held about 500,000 jobs in 2006. About 3 of every 5 jobs were in State correctional institutions such as prisons, prison camps, and youth correctional facilities. About 18,000 jobs for correctional officers were in Federal correctional institutions, and about 16,000 jobs were in privately owned and managed prisons.

Most of the remaining jobs were in city and county jails or in other institutions run by local governments. Some 300 of these jails, all of them in urban areas, are large, housing over 1,000 inmates. Most correctional officers employed in jails, however, work in institutions located in rural areas with smaller inmate populations.

Other correctional officers oversee individuals being held by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service pending release or deportation or work for correctional institutions that are run by private, for-profit organizations.

Employment of correctional officers is expected to grow 16 percent between 2006 and 2016,  faster than average for all occupations.  Increasing demand for correctional officers will stem from population growth and rising rates of incarceration. Mandatory sentencing guidelines calling for longer sentences and reduced parole for inmates are a primary reason for historically increasing incarceration rates. Some States are reconsidering mandatory sentencing guidelines because of budgetary constraints, court decisions, and doubts about their effectiveness. Additionally, the Supreme Court recently ruled to make Federal sentencing guidelines voluntary, rather than mandatory, for judges. It is unclear how many States will change their sentencing policies and how long it will be before any changes affect the prison population. Nevertheless, these developments could moderate future increases in the prison population and cause employment of correctional officers to grow more slowly than they have in the past.

Some employment opportunities also will arise in the private sector, as public authorities contract with private companies to provide and staff corrections facilities. Both State and Federal corrections agencies are increasingly using private prisons.

Job opportunities for correctional officers are expected to be excellent.  The need to replace correctional officers who transfer to other occupations, retire, or leave the labor force, coupled with rising employment demand, will generate thousands of job openings each year. In the past, some local and State corrections agencies have experienced difficulty in attracting and keeping qualified applicants, largely because of low salaries, shift work, and the concentration of jobs in rural locations. This situation is expected to continue.

Layoffs of correctional officers are rare because of increasing offender populations.

What happens when you are a young and stupid criminal?  You get sloppy, then you get caught.   Three young men, wearing Halloween masks, shoved guns at armored car workers who were stocking ATMs with cash and made off with $360,000 from three mid-day heists in Northern Virginia. But by the third ambush, at a Bank of America in Woodbridge, they finally messed up.

A white Cadillac they used as a getaway car was registered to one of the robbers, Christopher Blakeney, 21, who lived a quarter-mile from the bank.   On April Fools day no less, FBI agents went to his home and another address and found the money, the guns and the masks.   The last of the tree men finally plead guilty yesterday.  Read more about it.

According to a recent police date, crime is about 20% lower than in 2008.  There have been 37 homicides as of May 6 this year compared to 47 for the same period last year; 7,585 property crimes compared to 6,005 last year; and 2,733 car thefts compared to 1,934 last year.  After four years of rising violent crime — which was more than 50% higher last year compared to 2004 — the city finally appears to be on a downswing.

I found this information thanks to the San Francisco Gate’s website.  Even more interesting is a site they have recommended if you would like to keep up to date on Oakland’s crime numbers. It’s called Oakland Crimespotting and it’s an independently run website which offers interactive maps of crimes in Oakland. Using data published on CrimeWatch, the city’s community crime mapping website, the service allows you to browse crime reports by day and by type and to sign up to receive e-mail alerts and RSS feeds for crime reports in your neighborhood.  This site is amazing you can even call up police beat maps and see what has been going on in that sector.  I wish all cities had something like this, ran by an independent source.

First up on our tour of Criminal Justice schools is the University of Alaska Anchorage. The school is located in the heart of the city and is surrounded by lakes, ponds and wildlife. It is also connected to a citywide trail system.

The academic program is directed at students interested in justice as a field encompassing a broad range of social and behavioral concerns. The program of courses covers the areas of crime and delinquency, law, corrections, police policy and administration, and judicial policy and administration. The undergraduate curriculum, which leads to a Bachelor of Arts Degree, provides the educational background for admittance to a variety of operational, administrative, research and planning positions in law, law enforcement, and corrections. It can also provide the basis for pursuit of graduate or professional degrees. Within the undergraduate curriculum the Justice Center offers a separate program leading to certification in paralegal studies. The paralegal program is certified by the American Bar Association.

The Justice baccalaureate degree curriculumrequires completion of 14 courses, for a total of 42 Justice credits, in addition to the general University requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree. These 14 courses consist of a common core of seven courses (Introduction to Justice, Development of Law, Criminology, Justice Organization and Management, Justice and Society, Justice Processes, and Research and Policymaking) which all majors must complete and seven courses selected by students from several additional Justice courses to support an emphasis in the study of general justice, policing, legal studies, bush justice, and corrections.

The Paralegal Certificate is a two-year curriculum which has achieved American Bar Association approval. It can be pursued as an independent certificate or as an emphasis in the Justice bachelor’s degree.

The Masters o f Public Administration (MPA) degree offered by the UAA Department of Public Administration provides students with knowledge and skills needed for professional careers in public service. MPA students learn new techniques and add to their expertise in organizational and program management, policy analysis, and related areas with emphasis on policy and administrative issues in the North. Students specialize in one of the following emphasis areas: Public Management, Policy Analysis, Health Administration, or Criminal Justice.

The Criminal Justice Emphasis will provide graduates with the theoretical basis for management careers in the field of criminal justice. Students will develop knowledge and skills necessary for effective public management: planning and decision making, managing people, money and programs. These skills will be applicable in a wide spectrum of employment areas in law enforcement and the criminal justice system; and will also prepare graduates seeking to earn a terminal degree in justice administration.

On an interesting side note, The baccalaureate program was the first in the nation to expand from a narrower focus on criminal justice to include study related to civil law and its processes and agencies. Since the establishment of the “Justice” program at UAA, several other institutions of higher education, including American University, University of Louisville, and Arizona State University, have adopted this justice program format. The title Justice Review adopted as an alternative to the Journal of Criminal Justice for the professional publication of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences is indicative of the continuing evolution of the academic professional field of justice throughout the United States.

So in review, this University offers a B.A. in Justice, a two year Paralegal Certificate and a Masters of Public Administration with a Criminal Justice Emphasis. To the best of my knowledge they do not offer on-line courses. I encourage you to check out the UAA Justice Center Blog for more info on this college.

So you’ve been watching CSI for the past five years and have decided that you want to do what they do.   Just a warning, investigations never move that fast, you are often at a crime scene for hours on end and you have to be a person who pays attention to every detail.  There are no short cuts with this job.  Still interested?

Forensic Science Technicians have to take classes ranging from criminal justice to biology.  Throw is a bit of chemistry a dash of physics and some sociology for good measure.  You are probably now wondering, what is the job outlook for this career? Well sit back because I’m going to discuss exactly that.

Forensic Science Technicians investigate crimes by collecting and analyzing physical evidence. Often, they specialize in areas such as DNA analysis or firearm examination, performing tests on weapons or on substances such as fiber, glass, hair, tissue, and body fluids to determine their significance to the investigation. Proper collection and storage methods are important to protect the evidence. Forensic science technicians also prepare reports to document their findings and the laboratory techniques used, and they may provide information and expert opinions to investigators. When criminal cases come to trial, forensic science technicians often give testimony as expert witnesses on laboratory findings by identifying and classifying substances, materials, and other evidence collected at the scene of a crime. Some forensic science technicians work closely with other experts or technicians. For example, a forensic science technician may consult either a medical expert about the exact time and cause of a death or another technician who specializes in DNA typing in hopes of matching a DNA type to a suspect.

According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, forensic science technicians, held about 13,000 jobs in 2006.  Jobs for forensic science technicians are expected to increase much faster than average.  Employment growth in State and local government should be driven by the increasing application of forensic science to examine, solve, and prevent crime. Crime scene technicians who work for State and county crime labs should experience favorable employment prospects resulting from strong job growth.  Check out the following video:

Okay let’s get this started.  With the economy the way it is, it’s tough finding jobs out there, however, being a criminal justice major might give you an advantage.  It seems that most jobs in the criminal justice field are in demand right now.  Matter of fact, one of the fastest growing careers is Forensic Science Technicians.  Is  it because of CSI, or is it because the insturments and labs used,  are becoming cheaper for most departments to fund?  Who knows, but hey, it’s a great job either way.

So, how good is it out there you ask?  Well, let’s take a look.  According to the United State Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 edition, police and detectives held about 861,000 jobs in 2006. Seventy-nine percent were employed by local governments. State police agencies employed about 11 percent, and various Federal agencies employed about 7 percent. A small proportion worked for educational services, rail transportation, and contract investigation and security services. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, police and detectives employed by local governments primarily worked in cities with more than 25,000 inhabitants. Some cities have very large police forces, while thousands of small communities employ fewer than 25 officers each.

Job opportunities in most local police departments will be excellent for qualified individuals, while competition is expected for jobs in State and Federal agencies. Average employment growth is expected.  Employment of police and detectives is expected to grow 11 percent over the 2006-16 decade, about as fast as average for all occupations. 

Overall opportunities in local police departments will be excellent for individuals who meet the psychological, personal, and physical qualifications. In addition to openings from employment growth, many openings will be created by the need to replace workers who retire and those who leave local agencies for Federal jobs and private sector security jobs. There will be more competition for jobs in Federal and State law enforcement agencies than for jobs in local agencies. Less competition for jobs will occur in departments that offer relatively low salaries or those in urban communities where the crime rate is relatively high. Applicants with military experience or college training in police science will have the best opportunities in local and State departments. Applicants with a bachelor’s degree and several years of law enforcement or military experience, especially investigative experience, will have the best opportunities in Federal agencies.

Hi all and welcome to online criminal justice!  Here at online criminal justice we hope to bring you a blog that makes it easier to find out information about online criminal justice programs, courses, brick and mortar colleges, jobs in the field of criminal justice and some info on crime itself. 

Looking around the Internet there seems to be so much information spread across thousands of sites.  To me it seems a bit overwhelming so I thought why not do it with one site?  If you are wondering if I have a degree in criminal justice, well, the answer is yes.  I don’t believe in starting a blog and not having the experience to be able to add to it.  However, back in the day….you know….the 1990’s?  We didn’t have a booming Internet and there was no such thing as online criminal justice programs.  I had to lug myself to college everyday, and work around my class schedule.  Times have changed though and even though I will touch on traditional classes, it’s important to know that more and more big universities are offering online criminal justice programs. 

As always, feel free to comment and make suggestions.