SOSA 2181

What is crime, why do rates of crime vary, why do people commit crimes and how do social, cultural, psychological and biological theories and research findings explain crime as social and behavioral phenomena? Criminology is an interdisciplinary attempt to answer these questions through the social scientific study and analysis of crime and criminal behavior. This course introduces students to a broad variety of critical thinking, disciplinary theories, research studies and social policies, in order to help you understand and explain crime and show how these understandings inform the policies and politics designed to manage and prevent crime. This course provides a general but primarily sociological understanding of crime.