FORENSIC LAW
Professor: Mark Stevens, J.D.
Online Office Hours: 8AM - 5PM
MondayFriday
Location: Hardees 110
Forensic Evidence:
Science and the Criminal Law Terrence F. Kiely
ISBN: 0-8493-2858-6
Order your text from the College Bookstore
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SYLLABUS FOR JUSTICE 425
Course Description
This course coverers contemporary developments in the field of Forensic law, and the admission of scientific evidence into a court of law. The historical development of Forensic Science and the admissibility of scientific evidence under State and Federal Rules of Evidence will be examined and discussed in depth. Several of the most common scientific techniques will be examined to include DNA, Speed Detection, Fingerprint Science, Alcohol Intoxication Testing, to name a few.
The course will employ a combination of material presented on this web-site along with the North Carolina Wesleyan Campus Cruiser site.
You will be automatically added to the Campus Cruiser site upon registration for this course.
IF YOU ARE A FIRST TIME USER OF CAMPUS CRUISER CLICK ON THE LINK TO THE SITE AND SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE. ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THE CAMPUS CRUISER HOME PAGE THERE ARE INSTRUCTIONS POSTED FOR FIRST TIME USERS
Learning Objectives:
- To increase familiarity with basic terms, concepts and ideas in Forensic law and evidentiary scientific techniques
- To trace the historical development of Forensic law and the use of Scientific techniques in the Criminal Justice System.
- To explore and analyze contemporary problems and trends in Forensic law and Science with regard to expert testimony.
- To have a working understanding of the theories of admission of scientific evidence into a court of law.
- To gain an understanding of evidentiary foundations, and legal requirements for the admission of scientific evidence.
Campus Cruiser: After you have registered for this course you will be added to the NCWC Campus Cruiser website within 48 hours. To log on to Campus Cruiser you will need to go to the Campus Cruiser homepage. Scroll down the page and there are instructions on the homepage for first time users. You should read these instructions completely prior to trying to log in. Campus Cruiser is not administered by the instructor, and you should not contact the instructor if you have problems with Campus Cruiser. For Campus Cruiser assistance contact the Information Systems help desk at help@ncwc.edu or 252-985-5000.
POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR THIS COURSE
Attendance: You are required to attend all scheduled online discussion or chat sessions in this course, if any. Chat sessions may be scheduled by the professor in order to answer questions.
Communications with the Professor: The primary means of communications with the Professor is the Campus Cruiser E-mail system. Campus Cruiser also contains a chat and other functions to communicate with the class and the instructor. Students are also able to communicate with each other utilizing the functions of Campus Cruiser. If you click on the MEMBERS function in Campus Cruiser you can obtain the E-mail addresses of all students in the class.
The online student should be making a browser visit to the Campus Cruiser websites at least once every 48 hours to check for new assignments or announcements All assignments, announcements, exams, written assignments, and grades for this course will be posted on CAMPUS CRUISER.
Exams and written assignments: All exams and written assignments will be administered using Campus Cruiser. Exams and written assignments will be posted in the class site under the "my assignments" function of campus cruiser. My assignments is located under the student tools area of the campus cruiser page on the left hand side of the page. When you open the assignment page which contains an exam you will see that it is attached as a file. A writing assignment may be attached as a file or described in the body of the assignment. All written assignments and exam dates will be posted at a minimum of a week in advance of the due date.
In this class there will be a Midterm, a Final Exam, Several writing assignments, and 4 Message Board Topics.
Message Board Discussions: There will be Four Message Board Topics during this course. Each worth 25 points for a total of 100 points during the course. As you can see below you total grade for the Message board is worth 30% of your grade. Message board topics will normaly be posted on Sunday evening and you will have until the following Sunday to post your responses. The Message board topics will be directly related to your reading in the lecture notes or other assigned reading. You are encouraged in this course to go to other sources to learn more about a subject.
Message Board Grading:
Quantity: You will be required to participate in the message board discussion 3 different days during the week of a particular message board topic. Each of the 3 post during the week is worth 6.7 points. So if you only post 2 times you would get 13.4 points, if you only posted 1 time you would get 6.7 points and if you did not post at all you would get "0" points. REMEMBER THE REQUIREMENT IS NOT 3 POSTS. IT IS ONE POST ON 3 DIFFERENT DAYS. You can always post more if you like.
Posts on the same day count as one for the Quantity grade. However, additional posts will be considered in the Quality grade discussed below.
Quality: Not only will you be graded on the Quantity of your post on the message board, you will be also graded on the Quality of your responses. You are to respond not only to my question, but to each other. This is a discussion between the students in the class and not a discussion with the Professor. The Professor will post the question and may add input during the week. But you are to discuss between yourselves. A post that says "I agree" or "I disagree" is worth a "0". I expect 3 thoughtful discussions (several sentences) of the topic. So, if you have a good response you would get all the points (6.7), a fair response (4.15) or a poor response (1or 2 points)
YOU WILL NOT HAVE A MESSAGE BOARD DISCUSSION QUESTION THE WEEK OF YOUR MIDTERM OR FINAL EXAM.
LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. IF YOU MISS AN ASSIGNED DEADLINE YOU WILL RECEIVE A "0" FOR THAT EXAM OR ASSIGNMENT.
The final grade for this course will be calculated as follows:
Writing Assignments...........40%
Exams...........................30%
Message Board Topics.........30%
Grading System:
A = 94 |
A- = 91 |
B+ = 88 |
B = 83 |
B- = 80 |
C+ = 77 |
C = 74 |
C- = 70 |
D+ = 66 |
D = 61 |
F = 57 or less |
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COURSE CALENDAR:
Week One
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Textbook Chaptes 1 and 2 and the related links under the Lecture notes and research links
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Week Two
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Textbook Chapters 2 and 3 and the related links under the Lecture notes and research links |
Week Three
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Textbook Chapters 3 and 4 and the related links under the Lecture notes and research links |
Week Four
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MIDTERM EXAM |
Week Five
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Textbook Chapters 5 and 8 and related links under the Lecture notes and research links
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Week Six
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Textbook Chapters 8 and 10 and the related links under the Lecture notes and research links |
Week Seven
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Textbook Chapters 11 and 6 and the related links under the Lecture notes and research links
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Week Eight
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FINAL EXAM |
Submitting Exams and Written Assignments: Your exams and written work will be submitted using the Campus Cruiser submission function. The following is the procedure for submitting your assignments.
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Complete your assignment or exam using MS Word. Make sure your name is on the assignment. If you do not use MS Word then it will be necessary for you to convert your document into a txt.file prior to sending the document. If you do not convert the document the professor will not be able to read your work.
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Save your assignment on your computer. When you save your assignment include your last name as part of the title. For example, StevensExam #1.doc
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Go to the Campus Cruiser home page and log on.
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Select the Forensic Law Course and click on the course
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Go to the left side of the page under student tools and click on Student tools. The click "my assignments."
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Find the assignment with the exam or writing assignment and open the assignment by clicking on it.
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At the bottom of the assignment under Submission you will see a link "Submit Your Assignment" click on this link.
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A window will appear with a browse button. Click the browse button to locate your exam or written assignment on your hard drive or disk.
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Upload the exam answers or written assignment and close the window. If you do not upload you work will not be sent.
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Click submit your assignment.
Your assignment page will now tell you the date and time that your assignment was posted.
You can only submit an assignment once so don't try to send parts of the assignment at different times. Also, if the due date has expired you will not be allowed to submit the assignment.
When you submit the answers for an objective exam you would send your exam answers in a list format For example, your answers should be in the form that lists the question number and your answer: e.g., 1-C, 2-A, 3-B. PLEASE LEAVE SPACE BETWEEN THE ANSWERS. Do not cut and paste or mark up the exam in other ways. Do not make any written comments. Do not include page numbers or internet addresses. Grading rubrics consist of one and only one correct answer (for objective exams). Sometimes, there is a second best or even third best answer. There are no "red herring" or distracter ITEMS IN AN answer set. SUBMIT THE ANSWERS ONLY UNLESS OTHERWISE INSTRUCTED
For written assignments you must submit the entire assignment at one time. For example, if you had a 5 page paper you MUST submit all 5 pages at one time. You can NOT submit 3 pages, and then try to submit the other 2 pages. Also, remember that you will NOT be able to submit an assignment past the due date.
IF YOU DO NOT USE MS WORD AS YOUR WORD PROCESSING PROGRAM YOU WILL HAVE TO SUBMIT YOU ASSIGNMENTS AS A TXT.DOC. IF YOU SUBMIT YOU EXAMS/ASSIGNMENTS IN A FORMAT THAT I DO NOT HAVE (FOR EXAMPLE WORD PERFECT) I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ YOUR SUBMISSION.
There will be no disputes over grading matters in this course. The instructor's decision is final.
THERE WILL BE NO LATE WORK ACCEPTED. YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MEET THE DEADLINE ASSIGNED BY THE PROFESSOR.
Plagiarism and Cheating: (as per the College Catalog) are prohibited. Plagiarism is defined as taking or using the thoughts, writings, or inventions of another as one's own. It also means using direct quotations without credit and quotation marks, as well as using the ideas of another without proper credit. Cheating is defined as any intent to deceive the instructor in his or her effort to grade fairly. Anything that can possibly effect the fairness of grading is cheating. In this course, pay special attention to obtaining information off the Internet, and do NOT pass it off as your own, or without proper citation. Do not purchase, borrow, or revise another student's work. Do not "double dip" an assignment you did in another class to turn it in for this one. The following penalties are applied, as per the College Catalog.
Schedule of Academic Dishonesty Penalties
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A. First offense
B. Second offense
C. Third offense |
A. Instructor gives no credit for assignment
B. VPAA withdraws student with grade of F
C. VPAA suspends student from college |
MAKEUP POLICY: All work is due on the assigned date. Late work will not be accepted without prior approval of the Instructor
INCOMPLETE POLICY: (and Withdrawals):
Incompletes (a grade of "Inc") and Withdrawals (a grade of "W") are not automatic, and are never given as a substitute for missing makeup periods or low scores. To receive an incomplete, a real emergency must exist for which the student misses a series of adjacent assignments, such as the last quiz, final exam, and 4th practicum, but this is only an example, as circumstances vary, and in all cases must involve notice beforehand and instructor approval of the emergency. Incompletes must be removed before eight weeks after the semester ends (otherwise they convert to a grade of "F").
Withdrawals arranged between the student and Registrar are allowed up to the midpoint of a semester (or whenever scheduled in the college's Academic Calendar). After the assigned withdrawal date, any withdrawal is processed as a grade of "F" unless extenuating circumstances exist which are discussed with the instructor, the Registrar, and/or VPAA. Withdrawals do not compute into grade point averages, but do appear on transcripts, and may affect academic standing and/or financial aid. Tuition refund policies are set by the Business Office, with strict deadlines.
Institutional Student Support Resources:
For matters relating to your admissions status at the college, please contact the school's admissions office at adm@ncwc.edu or the site director at the location where you were first processed for admission to NCWC. For matters relating to financial statements, credit hours, transcripts, articulation and transfer credit, please contact the school's business office or the school's Registrar by calling the Business Office during regular working hours at 252-985-5104.
Student Support Center: If you find the need for tutoring or any other support need you should contact the Student Support Center at the main campus. Tutoring is available by appointment at the Rocky Mount campus Mon-Thurs 8am -9pm, and Fri 8 am -5pm.
Advising and Course Offerings: Your online instructor is not responsible for information on future courses or degree audits. For matters relating to advising, scheduling, upcoming courses, or courses needed for degree completion you should contact your advisor. If you do not have an assigned advisor you can contact the following personnel at each campus: Rocky Mount smdavis@ncwc.edu, for Goldsboro goldsboro@ncwc.edu, for Raleigh/Durham Raleigh@ncwc.edu
Disabilities: North Carolina Wesleyan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and affirmative action in education and employment and complies with the requirements of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you have a disability and need assistance you may contact the student services center for assistance.
Writing Lab: You are encouraged to use the NCWC online writing lab for assistance with writing assignments. You may contact the NCWC Writing lab at writinglab@ncwc.edu or visit the writing lab web site http://annex.ncwc.edu/writing_lab/
Library: For library assistance please go to the NCWC library website at http://annex.ncwc.edu/Library/. You can obtain access to NC Live, and many other services through the NCWC library.
Last updates 04/06/2009
mstevens@ncwc.edu
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