CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: None Course Designation: Core GenEd - Social & Behavioral Science Breadth - Social Science Level - Elementary L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Assess evidence and critically evaluate research-based arguments concerning criminal justice in academic journals, policy studies, or popular media. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Build arguments clearly and effectively and critically analyze evidence in both oral presentations and papers. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Think critically about the functioning of law and its effects on society, going beyond the surface of crime as a social phenomenon, discovering the “why” and “how” of the socio-legal order, and assessing alternate explanations for phenomena. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Analyze sentencing and carceral practices of the United States criminal legal system in the context of larger political, social, legal, and economic forces. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Evaluate social phenomena and diversity in global perspective, comparing how different cultures, groups, and societies understand and respond to crime. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Work effectively in groups, responding to group dynamics among people from different backgrounds with different strengths and weaknesses. Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Assess evidence and critically evaluate research-based arguments concerning criminal justice in academic journals, policy studies, or popular media. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Build arguments clearly and effectively and critically analyze evidence in both oral presentations and papers. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Think critically about the functioning of law and its effects on society, going beyond the surface of crime as a social phenomenon, discovering the “why” and “how” of the socio-legal order, and assessing alternate explanations for phenomena. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Analyze sentencing and carceral practices of the United States criminal legal system in the context of larger political, social, legal, and economic forces. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Evaluate social phenomena and diversity in global perspective, comparing how different cultures, groups, and societies understand and respond to crime. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Work effectively in groups, responding to group dynamics among people from different backgrounds with different strengths and weaknesses. Audience: Undergraduate