Criminology

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

The course is a survey of the nature and extent of crime and delinquency. It covers biological, psychological and sociological theories of crime causation; criminal typologies; legal and social definitions of crime; insanity defenses. Exercises based upon quantitative analysis of crime data are included. (Police, courts, and corrections are dealt with in a separate course, see Sociology of Criminal Justice.) The course has a mid-term and final exam; short quantitative exercises; and a research paper in which a criminological theory is tested with data.