CRIMINOLOGY (CRM)

Courses

CRM 130: INTRODUCTION TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Credits 3

This survey level course introduces students to the purpose, structure, and function of the criminal justice system, which represents the government’s official response to crime. Students will learn about the role of the various aspects of the criminal justice system (i.e., law enforcement, courts, and corrections) in responding to and controlling crime. A significant focus of the class will be on critical analysis of criminal justice policy and programs, such as mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, New York City’s stop and frisk campaign, sex offender residency restrictions, mandatory arrest laws for domestic violence, day reporting centers for probationers and parolees, and victimless prosecution of domestic violence cases. The course will also force students to consider the challenges facing the criminal justice system, including an aging prison population, the impact of incarceration on families and communities, the pressure to efficiently process high caseloads, and protecting personal liberties while keeping citizens safe. 

CRM 160: CRIMINOLOGY

Credits 3

The course examines the patterns, causes, and consequences of crime, and the ways in which the criminal justice system attempts to deal with the crime problem in the United States. Specific substantive topics will include analyses of how laws are created; theories of crime causation; penology; the relationship between crime/criminal justice and social class, race/ethnicity and gender; fear of crime; the social construction of crime in the media; the growth of the prison system; and an assessment of the efficacy of alternative “crime-fighting” strategies, such as community policing. 

CRM 215: INTRODUCTION TO GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Credits 3
This course will examine the problem of gender-based violence (GBV) from a theoretical, historical, sociopolitical, sociological, and psychological framework. We will delve into intimate partner violence, sexual assault and rape, stalking and other forms of gender-based violence. We will consider how social identities and experiences of intersectionality and discrimination impact GBV. We will consider whether and how survivors access support infrastructure and how social institutions may present barriers in help seeking.

CRM 243: JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Credits 3
This course examines the history of “juvenile delinquency” as a societal category and as a social problem. While the main focus is on competing theories of delinquent behavior and the relative effectiveness of various policy responses to juvenile crime, the course will also focus extensively on media portrayals of juvenile criminals and the broader topic of the social construction of the juvenile crime problem. Specific topics include decriminalization; deinstitutionalization; court diversion; radical nonintervention; community arbitration; and community-based corrections.

CRM 272: DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

Credits 3
This course examines how particular acts, beliefs, and conditions come to be defined as deviant; who confers the label of “deviant” upon whom; and how a deviant identity is managed by those persons successfully labeled “deviant.” The main theoretical approach employed in this course, social constructionism, argues that deviant behavior cannot be understood in isolation from differentials in social power that permit some groups in society to define their lifestyles, beliefs, and status as superior and preferred. Specific topics to be covered include crime and delinquency; mental illness; drug and alcohol addiction; “alternative” lifestyles; the social organization of deviant subcultures; and elite deviance (white-collar crime).

CRM 275: SOCIOLOGY OF LAW

Credits 3
This course examines the interrelationship between law and society by focusing on the "law in action" versus the law "on the books." It will offer a broad introduction to the law as a social institution, and it will analyze how the law shapes the form and function of other key social institutions such as the family, the economy, and the state (politics). Specific substantive topics to be covered include theories of legal creation; types of legal systems; theories of social control and punishment; how laws are used to effect social change (the controversy over "judicial activism"); how racial and class inequalities in society affect the creation and administration of law; and how the work of key theorists in the discipline of sociology (primarily Marx, Weber, and Durkheim) have contributed to the field. There will be less emphasis on the content of law (i.e., legal doctrine and case law) than on the study of how laws represent and shape core societal values.

CRM 280: SOCIOLOGY OF PUNISHMENT

Credits 3
In liberal-democratic society, what does it mean for governments to use punishment in pursuit of justice? In this course, students will be given the opportunity to put punishment in historical and social context. In doing so, the course provides an inroad to understand not only bureaucratic mechanisms of social control, but also to understanding society and government more broadly. The way societies distribute punishment tells us a great deal about morality, group membership, social inequality, and the maintenance of political sovereignty. This course will draw on classical sociological theories of punishment, as well as contemporary debates on the use and character of punishment in the U.S. Students will also have the opportunity to explore classical theories of government, as well as contemporary social and political theory of punishment.

CRM 301: VICTIM ADVOCACY: WORKING WITH SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE

Credits 3
This course is designed to prepare students with the knowledge, theory-driven skills, and understanding of community resources to support survivors of violence in community settings. Topics covered in class reflect credentialing standards for victim advocates. This course prepares students to work with survivors of violence by providing an understanding of the phenomenon of violence more broadly, as well as providing students with a knowledge base that is essential in working with survivors in future careers in fields such as the criminal justice system, human services, health care, education and more. This course will cover the sociopolitical context of violence, the complex and layered impact of victimization and violence on a survivor, the family and community, the role and responsibilities of victim advocates, understanding and applying ethical principles to victim advocacy work, understanding interventions and community services, community utilization processes as well as understanding and demonstrating referral processes, as well as victims’ rights, victims services and compensation and navigating the criminal justice system—all required content knowledge by the National Advocate Credentialing Program (NACP).

CRM 333: PRISONER REHABILITATION AND REENTRY

Credits 3
This course combines classroom and experiential community learning to examine prisoner rehabilitation and reentry programs in the United States. Students will gain an understanding of the reasons for and against prisoner rehabilitation, the various types of rehabilitation services which may be offered, and how rehabilitation and reentry programs have an effect on continuing crime rates in the country. This course also entails a critical analysis of how the availability of rehabilitation programs impacts families, communities, and the safety of society overall. Students should be at least sophomore standing.

CRM 335: FAMILY VIOLENCE

Credits 3
This course combines classroom and experiential community learning to examine the phenomenon of family violence in the United States. Students will gain an understanding of the prevalence, risk factors and consequences of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and elder abuse specifically. This course also entails a critical analysis of how definitions of and responses to family violence impacts individuals, families, communities, and the safety of society overall. Students should be at least sophomore standing.

CRM 485: INTERNSHIP SEMINAR I

Credits 3
This seminar provides interns with the opportunity to examine the internship experience along with other student interns. Students also examine related issues: social policy development; program planning, evaluation, and research; the social scientist’s responsibilities for the use of her or his research; the political role of the social scientist; the “value-free” debate among social scientists; applied versus pure sociology; the role of the social scientist within private and public organizations; management of human service agencies; and career options for social scientists.

CRM 486: INTERNSHIP SEMINAR II

Credits 3
This seminar provides interns with the opportunity to examine the internship experience along with other student interns. Students also examine related issues: social policy development; program planning, evaluation, and research; the social scientist’s responsibilities for the use of her or his research; the political role of the social scientist; the “value-free” debate among social scientists; applied versus pure sociology; the role of the social scientist within private and public organizations; management of human service agencies; and career options for social scientists.

CRM 495: POLICE ACADEMY SEMINAR

Credits 6
This course is a supervised field placement experience for students who have been accepted into an accredited police academy for training to become a city or state law enforcement officer. This course will provide students the opportunity to complete their police academy training while gaining course credit toward their Criminology degree. Students will meet weekly with a faculty supervisor from the Department of Sociology and Criminology to discuss progress toward police academy graduation. Students will likewise gain additional knowledge about the field of policing through assigned readings and written assignments created by the faculty supervisor. These additional faculty-assigned materials will allow students to contextualize the role of police officers in social, political, historical, and cultural terms. Coursework will also allow for the analysis of how the institution of policing and police officers’ interactions with individuals are impacted by social inequality and division, and experiences of advantage and disadvantage based on varying social identities. This course may be taken to fulfill the Criminology major degree requirements in place of CRM 485: Internship Seminar I and CRM 486: Internship Seminar II.