Criminology (Half-Term)

This six week course approaches the problems of crime and violence from the perspective of social scientists. Students learn about the central concepts, findings, debates and questions in the study of crime, violence, and punishment over time, moving from explanations that focus on the individual criminal toward explanations that focus on contexts and situations that make violence more likely. The course ends by studying active policy debates in the United States. Throughout, the class spends a substantial amount of time thinking about how to understand crime and violence through the collection and analysis of data.