Syllabus Supplement

CRIM 122: Criminal Law

Neosho County Community College
Spring Semester, 2011
Section 91, Online
Instructor: Kevin Blackwell Office: NCCC-Ottawa, Rm. 134
Phone: (785) 242-2067 ext. 303 Office Monday, 1:00-5:00 PM
(816) 824-0309 Hours: Tuesday, 1:00-4:00 PM
Thursday, 9:00 AM-12:00
E-mail: kblackwell@neosho.edu
PM
Friday, 8:00-10:00 AM

ACADEMIC HONESTY
Plagiarism of any type will not be tolerated in this class. Your case problems,
exam essays and Initial Forum Posts must be your own work. I do not care if you
use outside materials as long as you use proper citations and quotation marks
around words that you didn’t write. Copying and pasting material from the
Internet as your own work will earn you an AUTOMATIC F IN THIS COURSE.
Don’t take the risk.

EMAIL POLICY
1. All class-related communication must be through your NCCC email account
(P-mail). Instructions for setting up your P-mail account can be found on the
NCCC Webpage under “Current Students””Student Email Setup.” Emails from
any other account will not be answered.

2. When writing an email put the following in the subject line CRIM 122-91. All
students must send a certification email to me within the first week of class.

3. Since this is an online class, the primary form of communication between you
and me will be via email. I will endeavor to answer all emails within 24 hours of
the time you send the email. I generally check email three times per day. If you
have not heard back from me within 24 hours, please don’t hesitate to call me at
the above numbers.

4. All e-mails and written communications to me (including written assignments

and forum posts) must utilize reasonably proper grammar, capitalization and
spelling. Communications in this course will not be treated as posts on
Facebook or Twitter or any other social network/chat program protocol.

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EVALUATION AND GRADING:
Students will be evaluated by their performance on introductory assignments,
class participation, examinations and research projects. The student will be able
to access their progress and current standing in the class via an online Grade
Book. I will endeavor to grade and post evaluations of Exams, Initial Forum
Posts, and Introductory Assignments within 48 hours of their due date.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS (Forum Posts and Replies) WILL RECEIVE A GRADE OF

ZERO. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Each component of the grade is described in detail below:

1. Introductory Assignments
Students will be expected to complete an introductory unit on course mechanics
and structure to familiarize themselves with the working of an online course.
These assignments will include a certification email to me, certification that the
student has read and understands the Course Syllabus and this Syllabus
Supplement, a Scavenger Hunt to introduce the content of the Course Webpage
and how to navigate to various areas, and an introductory forum post to the class
introducing the student. Students are also expected to complete the NC105
InsideNC Certification Course and present their completion certificate.

2. Class Participation
Reflections: Class participation in the online environment will take the form of
student posts on a class discussion board. Students will be given a choice of
three Reflection topics for each of the twelve substantive units in the course. The
student will have a specified time to respond to two of the three Reflection topics
per unit. Following the expiration of the specified time for response, no further
responses will be possible and the student Reflection posts will become “read-
only.” The Reflection topics will cover the main learning outcomes of the course
Replies: For each of the twelve substantive units of the course, students will be
required to post two replies to the Reflection posts of other students. The replies
must conform to the Rules of Netiquette as outlined on the Course Webpage.

3. Examinations
There will be FOUR examinations during the semester. The exams will include
both objective questions (multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the-blank) and
subjective essays. Essays will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

1. Knowledge of the material.

2. Analysis of ideas.
3. Synthesis of major themes.
4. Clarity of written expression.

If there are technical problems with your exam which prevent you from
completing it on the specified day, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CONTACT

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ME IMMEDIATELY. WITHOUT SUCH CONTACT, A MAKEUP EXAM WILL
NOT BE ALLOWED.

It is also YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW WHEN EXAMS ARE

SCHEDULED AND TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS IN ADVANCE IF YOU ARE
NOT ABLE TO TAKE THE EXAM DURING THE SCHEDULED TIME.

4. Paper/Project: A term project is required. This may be fulfilled by any one of

the following possibilities: (1) interviewing a law enforcement officer or official, (2)
interviewing a judge, district attorney or criminal defense attorney, (3) taking a
tour of a prison, detention center or county jail, (4) doing research on a current
controversy in law enforcement or criminal justice, or (5) designing your own
project of similar difficulty. If you choose to do an interview or tour you are
expected to write a paper describing the location and interviewee and what you
learned from your interview or tour.
They should be between 5 and 7 pages long. All term papers must be
perfect in spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You should use the MLA Style for
your project. See the following webpage for examples: MLA Citation Style.

The course grade will be calculated as follows:

Introductory Assignments 5%
First Examination 10%
Second Examination 10%
Third Examination 10%
Final Examination 10%
Paper/Project 25%
Class Participation 30%
100%

Course Schedule

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DATE TOPIC ASSIGNMENT
Week of January Course Course Mechanics Unit
18, 2011 Mechanics Introductory Assignments must be
completed by 11:00PM on January 26,
2011.
(NC105 Certification Certificate due
February 9, 2011 by 11:00PM)
Week of January Unit I: Online Unit I: Introduction
24, 2011 Introduction  Initial Forum Posts are due on
January 27 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on January 30,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
Week of January Unit II: Elements Online Unit II: Elements of Crime
31, 2011 of Crime  Initial Forum Posts are due on
February 3, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on February 6,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
Week of Unit III: Online Unit III: Anticipatory Offenses
February 7, 2011 Anticipatory and Parties to Crime
Offenses and  Initial Forum Posts are due on
Parties to Crime February 10, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on February 13,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
February 14, EXAMINATION ONE
2011 Exam must be taken sometime during
February 14, 2011.
Week of Unit IV: Online Unit IV: Defenses to Crime I
February 14, Defenses on  Initial Forum Posts are due on
2011 Crime I February 17, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on February 20,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.

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DATE TOPIC ASSIGNMENT
Week of Unit V: Defenses Online Unit V: Defenses to Crime II
February 21, to Crime II  Initial Forum Posts are due on
2011 February 24, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on February 27,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
Week of Unit VI: Criminal Online Unit VI: Criminal Homicide
February 28, Homicide  Initial Forum Posts are due on
2011 March 3, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on March 6, 2011
at 11:00PM; after that time the
Forum will become “read-only”.
March 7, 2011 EXAMINATION TWO
Exam must be taken sometime during
March 14, 2011.
Week of March Unit VII: Crimes Online Unit VII: Crimes Against the
7, 2011 Against the Person
Person  Initial Forum Posts are due on
March 10, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on March 13,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
Week of March Unit VIII: Online Unit VIII: Property Crimes
14, 2011 Property Crimes  Initial Forum Posts are due on
March 17, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on March 20,
2011 at 11:00PM; after that time
the Forum will become “read-
only”.
March 21-March SPRING NO ASSIGMENTS DUE
25, 2011 BREAK

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DATE TOPIC ASSIGNMENT
Week of March Unit IX: Crimes Online Unit IX: Crimes Against Public
28, 2011 Against Public Order and Public Decency
Order and  Initial Forum Posts are due on
Public Decency March 31, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on April 3, 2011 at
11:00PM; after that time the
Forum will become “read-only”.
April 4, 2011 EXAMINATION THREE
Exam must be taken sometime during
April 4, 2010.
Week of April 4, Unit X: Crimes Online Unit X: Crimes Against
2011 Against Government and Terrorism
Government and  Initial Forum Posts are due on
Terrorism April 7, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on April 10, 2011
at 11:00PM; after that time the
Forum will become “read-only”.
Week of April 11, Unit XI: Drug Online Unit XI: Drug Crimes
2011 Crimes  Initial Forum Posts are due on
April 14, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on April 17, 2011
at 11:00PM; after that time the
Forum will become “read-only”.
Week of April 18, Unit XII: Online Unit XII: Sentencing
2011 Sentencing  Initial Forum Posts are due on
April 21, 2011 by 11:00PM.
 Replies are due on April 24, 2011
at 11:00PM; after that time the
Forum will become “read-only”.
May 2, 2011 RESEARCH PROJECT DUE

May 9, 2011 FINAL EXAMINATION

Exam must be taken sometime during
May 9, 2011.

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