SOC 2510: Criminology (2021-2022)

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This course focuses on the nature, causes, and distribution of crime in the U.S. The first part of the course deals with definitional, methodological, and measurement issues in the field. The second part of the course focuses on the various social scientific attempts to explain criminal behavior and patterns of criminality. The third part of the course focuses more specifically on understanding particular types of criminal behavior: illegal drug use and crime, criminal homicide, rape, property crime, and white-collar crime. The primary concern will be an understanding of why it is that some people (or groups) are more likely to engage in criminal behavior than others.