Forensic Psychology

Dr. Travis Langley  McBrien Hall 301-F
langlet@hsu.edu

Required Textbook:
Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach by Bartol (11th ed.)

TEXTBOOK OVERVIEW:
A comprehensive psychological approach to criminal behavior.

Building on a tradition of excellence, Criminal Behavior: A Psychological Approach is accurate, well-researched, contemporary, and comprehensive. It offers a detailed look at crime, what may lead to it, and how criminal behavior may be prevented — all from a psychological perspective.  With a focus on serious crimes, particularly those involving violence, this text offers an all-inclusive look at a very complex field through effective and engaging material that has been classroom-tested for more than thirty years, Including crucial updates relating to crime definitions and DSM-5 categories, as well as the most current statistics and recently proposed models and theories. Numerous topics — such as intimate partner violence, juvenile sex offending, terrorist recruitment, elderly abuse, and sexual burglary — now receive more extensive coverage than ever before.

UNIT 1                                    TEST: Thursday, September 14
Chapters 1-3.

UNIT 2                                    TEST: Thursday, October 5
Chapters 4-6.

UNIT 3                                    TEST: Thursday, November 2
Chapters 8, 9, 10.

UNIT 4                                    TEST: Thursday, November 30 [online]
Chapters 12-14.

FINAL
Cumulative plus chapter 15. Refer to fall schedule for date.

EXAMS

Each test will consist of 40 multiple choice items — covering lecture notes, assigned readings, and class discussion. Bring number 2 pencils for every test. If you have trouble erasing completely, bring Liquid Paper to cover your erasures or just ask the professor for a clean answer sheet. Any answer marked wrong due to an incomplete erasure is simply wrong.

There will be NO makeup tests. As long as you do not miss any quizzes or tests, your lowest test score will be dropped. If you miss a test, it will be the score that gets dropped. (If you miss two and have medical documentation for both, contact your professor about arrangements.) The final exam will weigh the same as any other test in figuring your grade, unless the course has to go fully online in which case it will weigh more heavily.

GRADING

Test questions range in difficulty to provide a very accurate idea as to how much of the course material you know and understand. I do not feel it is right to establish a curve based on the highest grade in the class, in which case only one score would determine everyone’s grade. The scale on the tests will be as follows:

A 35.1 –>        B 30.1 – 35      C 25.1 – 30      D 20.1 – 25      F <– 20

The professor reserves the right to subtract any number of points from the grade of someone who disrupts class, or to assign a course grade of F to cheaters. If you walk into class late, take a seat in the back near the door instead of walking through the class and being a distraction. The professor is completely serious about flunking people who cheat and referring them for University disciplinary measures.

Overall grade will consist of six portions: the four tests that are not dropped, the online assignments, plus project grade.

Writing Across the Curriculum: The last question on every multiple-choice test will be some version of “Since the previous test, what have you learned from the current course material that was not otherwise covered by this exam?” Write your answers in coherent sentences. In general, each distinct fact you provide will be worth half a point, up to the normal maximum of 3, so to earn full credit provide 6-8 distinct facts. Writing more could earn a little extra credit, up to an absolute maximum of 4, which would almost always bring your score up a full letter grade. Bad answer, not worth any credit: “We talked about status offenses, but you didn’t ask about them.” Good answer: “A status offense is a crime that would not normally be a crime, except that it is not legal due to the age of the person doing it, such as truancy, underage drinking, or running away from home.” Rather than just stating which topic was not covered by the test, tell what you learned about the topic.

ATTENDANCE

We will meet in class on Tuesdays and usually online on Thursdays. Be here.

If you miss class, please do not tell the professor why if it is not for a required school event scheduled beyond your control or an ongoing medical issue for which you will need to provide documentation. If you show any symptom of COVID, do not come to campus; instead, follow the procedures outlined by the university.

If you miss class, get a copy of notes from another student.

ONLINE DAYS

This course is about a little more than half online. Lectures will be held in person on most Tuesdays. Class will be online on Thursdays except when tests are scheduled.

Each week you will be given Internet-based study assignments to be completed by the end of class time on Thursday (2:45 p.m.). You’ll go to the Canvas page for the class and find those assignments on the course’s discussion forum. If computer difficulties keep you from getting it done on time, well, that means you should have done it earlier because they’ll normally be up for at least two days before they’re due, often more. Assignments MUST be received by their stated deadlines. Your end-of-semester total for these assignments will be equal in value to one test.

Because doing Internet assignments counts as attendance, missing an assignment counts as missing class. People who miss three assignments and/or class sessions could be dropped from the class without notice. This is your notice.

If a test is ever held online, you will be required to do these for test security purposes:

• Download the Respondus lockdown browser.
• Have a functioning, moveable webcam for test security purposes. If you do not have a moveable camera that can be used to conduct a thorough environment check, that test score will not count toward your course grade. It will be the test that gets dropped regardless of score.

How Those Online Assignments Get Graded: 
http://www.travislangley.info/?page_id=1548

PROJECTS

In small groups, you will create videos of educational value. They need to be interesting enough that you would like to watch them yourselves and students at other universities could consider to be worth their time. We’ll discuss these more and you’ll divide into project groups next week. Each video should be at least six and a half minutes long, not counting the title, credits, references, or noneducational bonus content).

This project will be equal in value to one test.

Guest speaker: Anyone who lines up a guest speaker whom I deem worth the class’s time will receive an extra A figured into their average. Past speakers have included a CSI investigator, DEA agent, retired CIA officer, attorney for drunk drivers, state trooper, sheriff’s deputies (one of whom brought a prison inmate with him), and others. Similarly, arranging an appropriate field trip would net you an extra A. In the past, we have visited Malvern’s prison, the Hot Springs jail (which is scarier than the prison), juvenile jail, and juvenile court.

On days when we have guest speakers, do not walk in late. It’s more than rude. It’s disrespectful and distracts the guest. If you get there late and the speaker has already started, just wait outside the room until the speaker is done, however long that takes, and then join us for the rest of class.

ELECTRONICS POLICY

Your phone and other electronic devices must be OFF and OUT OF SIGHT. If your phone is out, you lose a point. If you’re peeking down at your phone, you lose a point. If your phone rings or vibrates loudly enough for your professor to hear it during class, every ring is a classroom disruption and can cost you points. If it rings once, make sure it does not ring a second time. Do not text during class because that is distracting to others. If you need to be on your phone that badly, then you need to be somewhere else. Each time your phone is in sight (yours or mine) during class, you lose a point from your best test grade.

If your phones or notes are visible during a test, that will be treated as cheating because too many students use their phones to cheat. I do not have to confirm what was on your phone. Also, do not wear hats or watches during tests.

Don’t use computers to take classroom notes. Sorry, but too many professors have run into problems with people distracting other students by sitting there surfing the Internet.

COMMUNICATION

The best way to contact your professor is via email at langlet@hsu.edu.

If you do not normally use your reddies.hsu.edu email address, you MUST set it up to forward messages to you because if I have to email a message to the class, that’s where the system will send it. You are responsible for making certain you are set up to receive messages from your professor. Every time you email your professor, say who you are and which course and assignment you’re talking about at the beginning of your message (not just in your subject line because that doesn’t immediately show in some apps).

Syllabus Part II: Expected Learning Outcomes, Computer Tips, Disability Services
(not covered by syllabus quiz)

Any information in this syllabus may be subject to change, correction, or other revision.