Introduction to Criminology

3 units

A general introduction to the study of crime from an interdisciplinary perspective. Classical and contemporary sociological theories to explain and predict criminal behavior will be studied, as well as psychological theories from the psychoanalytic, behavioral, and cognitive traditions that attempt to account for criminality and the psychosocial development of a criminal personality type. Other topics include the measurement and extent of crime, the role of age, race, gender, social class in the causation of and reaction to crime, and the criminal justice response to crime, as well as recent trends in policing, corrections, and community-based interventions.