Criminological Perspectives: Understanding Crime

This course will introduce students to the history of social, structural, and critically framed theories that have been advanced to explain the criminal event as distinct from the criminal offender. Students will begin by exploring historical and contemporary theories that examine the situational and structural influences on crime, including Anomie/Strain, Critical and Conflict traditions, Feminism, Southern and Indigenous Criminology, Cultural Criminology, and Green Criminology. Students will then be introduced to ways that major social, political and cultural institutions intersect with crime and justice, including mass media, politics, and criminal justice institutions such as the police, courts, and corrections. We will also explore innovations in criminal justice, such as Indigenous justice and restorative justice. The course will require students to critically engage with the theories presented; and to critique their value in explaining crime and criminal justice in contemporary society. Current day issues and research will be drawn upon throughout the course to bring to life the application of these criminological perspectives.