The focus of this course will be on the defining of criminal acts, learning the theories that can be used to explain the participation or reason for perpetrating criminal acts, and exploring the public policies that are developed to respond to the threat and existence of criminal behaviour.

This course examines the nature, function, and causes of crime in society. The course traces the development of criminology from the Enlightenment through the present, situating key criminological theories and research in their historical context. Further afield, the course attempts to bridge criminological theory and contemporary crime and criminal justice issues including political gangs, drugs and guns trade. While drawing critical attention to prevailing criminological wisdom, the course also attempts to broaden students’ understanding of criminality through highlighting often neglected crimes including those committed by and against women, and by the government and corporate executives. Lastly students will become acquainted with the professional journals in the field of criminology, criminal justice and sociology, and demonstrate this acquaintance by reading assigned journal articles, plus successfully completing any assignments associated with this.

At the end of this course students should be able to:

• Analyze the nature of crime and impact of criminal behavior on public safety.
• Evaluate and apply career skills to Practicum experiences in the areas of criminology, law enforcement, court systems, and correctional services.
• Analyze the philosophy, functions, and roles of institutional incarceration.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of diversion, treatment courts, and community-based corrections.
• Evaluate the role of ethics, political, and corporate power on the criminal justice system.
• Conduct a research project using core concepts from criminological theory, creating appropriate research questions, methodology, and analysis to draw valid, ethical, empirically-based conclusions.
• Describe the main propositions of classic and contemporary theories of criminology,
• Distinguish among a variety of theoretical elements that have biological, psychological, and social influences on criminal behaviour.
• Analyze offender case histories and correctly apply theoretical concepts.
• Identify and defend a particular theory as best at explaining given offender case histories.
• Examine the advantages and disadvantages of the major sources of data on crime trends and patterns.
• Critically evaluate the use of criminological theory to explain crime and criminal behaviour