Search

• CRJ 7230: Crim Investigative Analysis

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course builds upon the theoretical framework provided in Advanced Crime Theory and Analysis; and Advanced Theory of Behavioral Analysis of Violent Crime. It provides the applied components of criminal investigative analysis from operational aspects such as the formation of the investigative team, predicting criminal behavior, locating offenders, and methodically collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing relevant evidence. Moreover, the student will learn other practical applications such as interview techniques for suspects, crime victims, and how to minimize occurrences of false confessions.
  ShareCRJ 7230 - Crim Investigative Analysis

• CRJ 7240: Equivocal Death Analysis

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course is designed to provide the theoretical and practical applications in determining whether a death was the result of an accident, suicide, homicide, or natural occurrence. The student will be introduced to specific techniques, which are used to disambiguate the manner of death including behavioral and psychological histories of the decedent. Other techniques covered in the course include the analysis of autoerotic fatalities and staged crime scenes.
  ShareCRJ 7240 - Equivocal Death Analysis

• CRJ 7250: Geographic Crime Analysis

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  Understanding of the theoretical and practical applications of environmental criminology and crime analysis. Topics covered include target and predator patterns; predicting crime; locating offenders; and investigative strategies for solving crimes. Students will also be introduced to the scientific and technological aspects of this field and will be expected to critically evaluate the various processes and procedures with the view towards continuous improvement in the field.
  ShareCRJ 7250 - Geographic Crime Analysis

• CRJ 7300: Sem in Forensic Linguistics

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  Forensic linguistics has been described as the interface between linguistics and the law. This course will attempt to present the student with an awareness of linguistics and its role in forensic science, and how it can be helpful to law enforcement, intelligence, and security professionals in creating a more informed understanding of how forensic linguistics can be applied in legal cases and proceedings. Individuals in this class will participate in interactive discussions and exercises which will grow from the history and development of this emerging field. Discussions will provide a solid foundation for understanding how forensic linguistics can enhance investigations in both criminal and private security settings.
  ShareCRJ 7300 - Sem in Forensic Linguistics

• CRJ 7305: Anatomy of Motive

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course introduces students to to specific crimes of a linguistic nature by focusing on criminal motive, biological motives and crime, social motives and crime, and personal motives. The course uses the foundations of these motives to demonstrate general and specific intent and examines the motives of pyshopaths and sociopaths.
  ShareCRJ 7305 - Anatomy of Motive

• CRJ 7310: Forensic Lang Structure I

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course introduces students to the linguistic study of phonetics, language sounds, and phonology sound systems. There are four main units: Articulatory Phonetics (how speech sounds are produced), Acoustic Phonetics (the physical properties of sound waves and how to measure them), Segmental Phonology (how sounds contrast and alternate within systems), and Suprasegmental Phonology (aspects of sound systems larger than a single segment). An additional unit introduces students to Forensic Linguistic applications of phonetics. Cross-language and cross-dialectal variation in language sounds and sound systems and their implications for Forensic Linguistics are discussed throughout the course. In addition to a solid grounding in the fundamentals of phonetics and phonology, students also gain essential skills in phonetic transcription; recording sounds for phonetic analysis; producing, reading and interpreting spectrograms (commonly mislabeled voiceprints); and conducting basic phonological analyses. Students complete exercises in the various skill areas as the course progresses, including an exercise in the analysis of speech data and professional presentation of results in connection with a hypothetical forensic investigation.
  ShareCRJ 7310 - Forensic Lang Structure I

• CRJ 7320: Authorial Attrib Spkr Ident

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  Every individual has his or her own unique way of communicating. This is known as a person's idiolect, that is, the distinctive features found within an individual speaker's and/or writer's language system. These features can assist in identifying the author of one or more anonymous questioned communications when compared with known communications of other suspected authors. This course will examine the basic concepts, methodologies, and practices in which authorial attribution and speaker identification is used to help identify the author of one or more specific anonymous communications. Multiple real-case examples will be utilized in this course to prepare the student for these applications.
  ShareCRJ 7320 - Authorial Attrib Spkr Ident

• CRJ 7330: Forensic Lang Structure II

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course provides students with an introduction to the scientific study of morphology and syntax, that is, word and sentence structure. Students will learn the basic components of words, phrases, and sentences, and how these components fit together to create well-formed words and sentences. Both linguistic universals and variables in word and sentence structure formation will be addressed, with a particular focus on variation in morphology and syntax across English dialects (including different standard English). Students will learn the crucial importance of approaching morphology and syntax (i.e., grammar) from a scientific perspective that investigates how people really form words and sentences in everyday life rather than simply how people are supposed to use grammar based on conventions particular to certain individuals/institutions, places, genres, and time periods. Students will learn to conduct syntactic analyses by diagramming phrases and sentences, as well as to conduct morphological analyses (i.e. breaking words into their component meaningful parts; e.g., roots, prefixes, affixes) using sets of data from both known and unfamiliar languages. Students will be introduced to different theoretical approaches to syntax and morphology, though the focus of this course is to introduce students to the basic components and processes that all theories of syntax and morphology must account for. Finally, students will investigate applications of the scientific study of morphology and syntax to Forensic Linguistics. Students complete basic exercises in syntactic analysis (phrase and sentence diagramming) and morphological analysis, as well as a final exercise in morphological-syntactic analysis, and professional presentation of results, in connection with a hypothetical forensic investigation. Prerequisite: CRJ 7310
  ShareCRJ 7330 - Forensic Lang Structure II

• CRJ 7340: Author Profiling Threat Assess

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  The first half of the course will cover author profiling, i.e., the analytical determination of the demographic features of an anonymous author by the linguistic features uncovered within the communication(s). The sociolinguistic concepts used to develop an author profile include language variation by region, age, gender, race, ethnicity, nativeness, etc. Ancillary issues relating to motivation, truthfulness, actual victimization status and commitment can also be determined through careful author profiling assessment. This course will help students construct potential author profiles of potential evidentiary and investigative value based on the science of linguistics and assist them in presenting profiles in report style. The second half of this course will cover threat assessment from a forensic linguistic perspective. It will be demonstrated that threat assessment can be effectively undertaken to recognize and assess the level of language usage within a communication as it relates to potentially injurious actions to an individual or organization. In particular, topics such as written/verbal versus non-written/non-verbal threats and conditional threats/extortions will be explored. Issues to be examined include the separate categories of threats, the seven primary factors to consider when undertaking a threat assessment, issues relating to escalation, and mental health considerations in anonymous writings. Illustrations will be provided through class exercises and case examples.
  ShareCRJ 7340 - Author Profiling Threat Assess

• CRJ 7350: Forensic Sociolinguistics

  3.00 Credits

  Pennsylvania Western University

  
  This course investigates how language shapes and is shaped by society. The course presents a general overview of the field of sociolinguistics, then focuses in depth on three major approaches: quantitative sociolinguistics (variation analysis), discourse analysis (analysis of conversations, narratives, and other connected speech/writing), and pragmatics (analysis of language in context, how people derive meanings from both context and the linguistic signal). The student will become acquainted with the major literature and research methods in the field and will learn how to apply their knowledge to designing and conducting an original sociolinguistic study. The student will also learn about applications of sociolinguistic knowledge beyond academia, including areas such as language policy and planning (including issues related to bi- and multilingualism and language endangerment), language and education (including teaching the standard language to native speakers of nonstandard dialects), and language and the law, especially the analysis of language evidence (e.g. ransom notes, threatening emails and text messages).
  ShareCRJ 7350 - Forensic Sociolinguistics