Course Introduction

Course banner

Welcome to CJL 6568: Law and Social Control. During the course of this semester, we will explore and discuss many topics such as the process of law and specific types of social control that you may not have even considered as forms of social control but instead took for granted as facts of life. I agree that the topics of the course are quite broad. I have included some information below that I believe will be helpful in completing the course. Additionally, you can view other helpful information and examples through the link on the course homepage.

There are four required books for our course (Beckett & Herbert, 2009; Chriss, 2013; Harris, 2014; Lippman, 2021), as well as peer-reviewed journal articles. You will be able to find all of the articles in the course schedule using the UCF Library's Primo Search on the library’s main webpage. To access the articles, you will need to log-in to the UCF Library using your NID and password. The best way to search for these articles using UCF’s Primo Search is by title. If you are having difficulty searching for the articles, I have included a step-by-step guide that may be accessed from the “Helpful Information and Examples” page in Webcourses. There are three exceptions (Davis, 2010; Scalia, 2005; Wilson & Kelling, 1982) that are not available through the UCF Library. Links to those three readings are available through the associated module pages in Webcourses.

You will be able to view all modules for the course through Webcourses, but you are not able to access all assignments. This way you are able to look ahead in the course so that you can make the course fit better into your daily lives. I understand that many of you are managing graduate school with other responsibilities. I will only grade assignments after the due date has passed. I am happy to answer any questions that you have about the active modules. If you have questions about a future module, please hold those until that module is active. Since you will be able to work ahead in the course if you wish, it will be important that you incorporate my feedback from prior assignments into future assignments that you may have already begun work on. Please remember that all assignments must be in APA format (double-spaced, left aligned, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, etc.). I recommend using the question numbers as your headings (e.g., Question 1). A template document is available to you in the Helpful Information and Examples section as well.

I look forward to meeting all of you either online or in-person/Zoom. My door/Webcourses inbox are both always open. Should you ever find yourself on campus and want to stop by my office (HS1-327), you are always more than welcome. I’m looking forward to the semester and talking with you all. Additionally, I always encourage students to contact me by telephone (407-823-3931) or schedule a Zoom meeting if you’re having difficulties in the class. Sometimes, problems are easier to solve through a discussion rather than an email.

- Dr. Matthew Matusiak

Getting Started Assignments