2018-2019 Undergraduate Bulletin

Community Justice Minor

Description. The Community Justice minor uses interdisciplinary analyses through Africana Studies to expose students to different ways of thinking about and enacting alternative justice strategies, community-based economic development, and community wellness.  Community justice refers to resident involvement in and citizen-police partnerships in justice decision-making, oversight, and restorative justice; as well as the development of legal, economic, social, educational and health alternatives at the local level that complement and/or transform traditional public safety strategies to establish meaningful justice, peace, stability, and community wellbeing. Students will explore theories, strategies, and practices that address racial and economic inequity and place community well-being at the center, to strengthen the capacity of families, friends, neighborhood groups, civic and community organizations, and local institutions to resolve conflict and create solutions. Through community-based projects and experiential learning, students will engage in real-life application of community-based approaches to justice, and inclusionary community practices to prepare for careers in justice, community and non-profit organizations; and for graduate school.

Learning Outcomes. Students will:

  • Students will investigate relationships between a variety of community-based approaches to justice, community initiated and based development, school reform initiatives, preventive health and mental health initiatives, youth development strategies, and innovations in public safety and criminal justice practices that establish meaningful justice, peace and community well-being. 
  • Students will explain the core ideas, key concepts, theories and methodologies, of community wellness and Community Justice, especially as they relate to justice challenges such as racial and economic inequity, and solutions such as community asset building, community policing, and restorative justice.
  • Students will acquire and hone their critical thinking skills as applied to problem solving around justice themes within communities and among people of color, using the interdisciplinary tools and methodologies of Africana Studies. 
  • Students will examine how an individual’s place in society affects their experiences, values, or choices, and recognize how societal conditions such as access, involvement, and equity as well as their own biases, values and interpersonal styles limit justice and effect people in diverse communities. 
  • Students will demonstrate an understanding of themselves and how to operate as members of groups and communities, and of their own agency as community organizers, social justice advocates, and policy analysts.
  • Students will evaluate evidence and arguments critically and analytically, and produce well-reasoned, high level written and oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.

Credits required. 18

Minor coordinator. Professor Carlton (Jama) Adams, Department of Africana Studies (212.237.8761, cadams@jjay.cuny.edu)

Minor advisor. Ms. Rulisa Galloway-Perry, Department of Africana Studies (212.237.8701, rgalloway@jjay.cuny.edu)

Requirements. A maximum of two courses can overlap with a student’s major, other minors or programs.

Additional Information.  Students may NOT minor in both Africana Studies and Community Justice. Students majoring in Human Services and Community Justice may use up to two courses to satisfy both the HSCJ Major and the CJ Minor (AFR 145 and AFR 227). No other courses/electives may overlap, please see the Minor coordinator or advisor for course planning.

Part One. Required Courses

Required
AFR 227Community-based Approaches to Justice

3

AFR 315Community-based Justice in Africana World

3

Select one.

AFR 121Africana Communities in U.S.

3

or

AFR 140Introduction to Africana Studies

3

or

AFR 145Introduction to Community Justice in Human Systems

3

Subtotal: 9

Part Two. Electives

Choose three, at least one course must be at the 300-level or above.

AFR 215Police and Urban Communities

3

AFR 229Restoring Justice: Making Peace and Resolving Conflict

3

AFR 237Institutional Racism

3

AFR 243Africana Youth and Social Justice Struggles

3

AFR 320Perspectives on Justice in the Africana World

3

AFR 3XXField Education in Community Organizing and Community Practice I

3

or

AFR 3YYField Education in Community Organizing and Community Practice II

3

AFR 347/PSY 347Psychology of Oppression

3

AFR 410Independent Study

3

ANT 208Urban Anthropology

3

ANT 230Culture and Crime

3

ANT 347Structural Violence & Social Suffering

3

CJBA 365Change and Innovation in Criminal Justice

3

CRJ 236/SOC 236Victimology

3

ECO 170Crime, Class, Capitalism: The Economics of Justice

3

ECO 260Environmental Economics, Regulation and Policy

3

ECO 270Urban Economics

3

GEN 140Gender, Activism & Social Change

3

LLS 241Latina/os & the City

3

LLS 261/HIS 261Revolution and Social Change in Contemporary Latin America

3

LLS 265/HIS 265Class, Race and Family in Latin American History

3

LLS 321Puerto Rican/Latina/o Community Fieldwork

4

LLS 322Latina/o Struggles for Civil Rights & Social Justice

3

LLS 325Latina/o Experience of Criminal Justice

3

POL 210Comparative Urban Political Systems

3

POL 320International Human Rights

3

POL 405Seminar in New York City Politics

3

PSC 202Police and Diversity

3

PSC 245Community Policing

3

SOC 206The Sociology of Conflict and Dispute Resolution

3

SOC 215Social Control and Gender: Women in American Society

3

SOC 222Crime, Media and Public Opinion

3

SOC 251Sociology of Human Rights

3

SOC 364Food Justice

3

Subtotal: 9

Total Credit Hours: 18