Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• MET CH 373: Principles of Biochemistry
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: BI 105 or BI 108; and CH 204 or CH 174; or equivalent. - Introductory biochemistry focusing on structure/function with applications to medicine, nutrition, and biotechnology, including acid/base chemistry, protein structure, enzyme mechanisms, thermodynamics, and kinetics; nucleic acid structure/function, lipids and carbohydrates; bioenergetics of glycolysis and oxidative energy metabolism; lipid and nitrogen metabolism. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion.
• MET CH 421: Biochemistry I
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASCH204 OR CASCH212 OR CASCH214) or equivalent. - Introductory biochemistry. Protein structure and folding, enzyme mechanisms, kinetics, and allostery; nucleic acid structure; macromolecular biosynthesis with emphasis on specificity and fidelity; lipids and membrane structure; vitamins and coenzymes; introduction to intermediary metabolism. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion, four hours lab. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Critical Thinking, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• MET CH 422: Biochemistry 2
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120), (CASBI421 OR CASCH421) or equivalent. - Cell metabolism, with special emphasis on the uptake of food materials, the integration and regulation of catabolic, anabolic, and anaplerotic routes, and the generation and utilization of energy. Lectures include consideration of events in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Three hours lecture, one hour discussion, four hours lab. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Research and Information Literacy, Teamwork/Collaboration, Creativity/Innovation.
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  • Creativity/Innovation
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • Writing-Intensive Course
• MET CJ 101: Principles of Criminal Justice
  This course provides a comprehensive overview of the criminal justice system (law enforcement, the courts, and corrections) while developing students' critical thinking skills. In addition to class lectures, the course provides multiple venues for learning, to include group activities, guest lectures, a prison tour, and carefully selected films that highlight some of the most contentious issues in criminal justice today.
• MET CJ 209: Crime and Delinquency
  Analysis of criminal and delinquent behavior. Evaluation of current theories and research into causes and sociological implications of these behavior patterns. Examination of criminal justice systems, including police, courts, and corrections.
• MET CJ 251: Police and Society
  This course provides a foundation for understanding the implications of policing in the United States. The course examines the historical development of policing in the U.S., the role of police in our society, police organizations and decision-making, policing strategies, as well as issues of authority and accountability. Throughout the course, several contemporary issues and controversies facing the police will be discussed including: police discrimination, police use of force practices, and other special topics.
• MET CJ 271: Corrections
  This course provides an overview of models of punishment and rehabilitation from the perspectives of the humanities and social sciences, including a review of correctional practices and procedures, institutional treatment, probation, parole, prison conditions, programs for juveniles, and comparative systems. Correction administration topics are covered including personnel, legal, operating practices, overcrowding, and planning.
• MET CJ 300: Applied Social Science Theory
  Applied Social Science Theory introduces students to major authors and seminal works that continue to inform theory and research in social sciences. The focus is on reading primary source materials to examine not only the major conclusions of these authors, but the arguments they use to justify those conclusions. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking, Research and Information Literacy. Students cannot take both METCJ300 and METSO300 for credit.
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  • Critical Thinking
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• MET CJ 305: Violence in the Family
  This course will look at American family violence across the life span including child abuse, teen dating violence, wife battering and elder abuse. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse will be examined. We will consider how family violence differs by class and ethnic group and its differential impact on women. Institutional responses to family violence in the legal, medical and social service systems will be included as well as the role played by the women's shelter movement. Ideological supports for family violence in gender expectations, religious teaching and the media will also be studied.
• MET CJ 344: Drugs and Society
  Course examines the nature, causes and public policy implications of drug use in our society. Students will critically evaluate various approaches to regulating drug use, including those across the justice system and other policy domains.
• MET CJ 351: Criminal Law
  Theory and practice of criminal law, including sanctions, individual liability, limitations on state action, criminal and victim rights, evidence, defense, deterrence, mandatory sentencing, decriminalization, intent, entrapment, vagueness, and capital punishment. Case studies of recent court decisions.
• MET CJ 352: Courts, Society, and Criminal Procedure
  Federal, state, and local criminal courts and their relationship to contemporary social and political issues. Historical background of the current criminal court system. Institutional functions of the courts. Role of the courts in reducing crime. Judicial process and criminal procedure, case studies and court decisions.
• MET CJ 420: Directed Study
  Independent study in criminal justice under faculty guidance. Prior approval by program director required.
• MET CJ 510: Special Topics in Criminal Justice
  
• MET CJ 511: Rehabilitation and Re-Integration
  Community re-integration following imprisonment has long been recognized as a significant challenge. Longer sentences and rapid changes have created new problems for both formerly incarcerated people and those who provide services both inside and outside the criminal justice system. This course will examine rehabilitation philosophy in theory and practice. Lectures and seminars will address such issues as: the special problems in providing rehabilitation and education in the correctional system, the effect of inmate subculture on rehabilitation, and balancing demands for custody and rehabilitation.
• MET CJ 512: Sexual Violence
  This course will engage the topics of sexual deviance and sexual trauma through multiple lens. These lenses will include psychological, sociological, criminal justice, public health and social justice perspectives. The course will explore multiple facets of understanding sexual deviance and sexual trauma including legal and philosophical perspectives, historical activism, understanding and treatment of sexual offending, and survivor responses. The roles of multiple systems including the media, mental health organization and the criminal justice system will be taken into account. This course includes ongoing group work that will engage critical inquiry, addressing relevant topics in sexual trauma in practical ways. Students will utilize knowledge of theory and research methodology to pursue real world responses to issues of sexual violence and trauma.
• MET CJ 520: Violence and Trauma
  Violence and Trauma examines the psychological impact of crime, terror and disasters on society and the individuals who are members of it. The class is geared toward students in the social sciences including Psychology, Urban Affairs, Criminal Justice, and Sociology. A variety of traumas will be examined (e.g., childhood abuse, domestic violence and crime, war combat, terrorism, and natural disasters). The course examines the social, cultural and political environments in which trauma, trauma research and treatment occur. This course provides an introduction and overview of the field of traumatic stress studies including the nature of trauma, responses to trauma and treatment for disorders of traumatic stress.
• MET CJ 531: Youth Crime Problems
  Analysis of policy issues concerning juvenile justice and youth crime. Scope and nature of youth crime and the young offender. Juvenile justice procedures, programs, and institutional roles. Considers delinquency prevention programs, violent offenders, dispositional alternatives, and crimes against youth.
• MET CJ 570: Criminology and Crime Policy
  This course explores potential answers to complex and important questions about criminal behavior by drawing on the social science of criminology. Criminology is the interdisciplinary study of the development of law, criminal phenomena and societal responses to crime. The course has two primary focuses: 1) to explore and evaluate major explanations or theories of crime and 2) understand and evaluate the policy implications of major crime problems. Because criminology is interdisciplinary, students will examine theories that are grounded in a range of academic perspectives, including sociological, biological, political, psychological and economic explanations for crime. These theories will be centered on important public policy debates about a host of contemporary problems, including: firearm violence, high post- incarceration recidivism, opioid use disorder crisis and human trafficking. Course lectures and discussions focus on the historical development of the theories, their major assumptions and propositions, their relevance for public policy and practice. As the course progresses through each explanation for crime, students will have the opportunity to critically evaluate the validity of different explanations for crime as well as criminal justice policies and practices that they support.
• MET CJ 571: Criminal Justice Administration and Ethics
  This course introduces students to the concepts of criminal justice administration and ethics. Students learn about: the management of justice system organizations, and the various debates as to how best operate the organizations making up the system. Topics covered include: organizational theory and structure, professional ethics, leadership and management styles, organizational deviance and socialization, employee motivation, and management responses to stress and burnout. The course helps students understand the characteristics of effective leadership and policy implementation in the field of criminal justice. Students also have the opportunity to analyze ethical dilemmas commonly confronted in criminal justice work.