Criminology: The Nature and Origins of Crime
Criminology is the study of crime and society’s subsequent reaction to it. There are a number of sub-disciplines within criminology, including victimology, juvenile delinquency, and penology. This interdisciplinary field draws upon psychology, sociology, biology, political science and economics.
This course focuses on psychological and sociological theories of crime and development issues that explain criminal behavior. It also reviews the research methods used to study these issues. The course begins by examining the definition of crime and deviance and how these definitions vary across countries, cultures, social classes, and time. We focus on major facts and fallacies about crime such as the stability of deviance and the issue of versatility versus specialization in particular types of crime. Lectures are followed by a discussion of the different sources used to measure crime—police statistics, self-report studies, victim surveys, participant-observation studies, and data from other governmental and non-governmental sources.
We apply learning theories, the nature vs. nurture debate, rational choice, routine activities, and social development and traits to the study of crime. Finally, we explore crime prevention before returning to theory as the starting point for understanding potential offenders.
Format
Students prepare to participate actively in class by completing assigned readings. They write a final paper in which they apply criminological theories to certain types of criminal behavior and site empirical studies. They present their findings to the class. There is also a mid-term and a final exam.
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