SOC 240 - Criminology

1. Analyze Crime and Criminology
   1. Define criminology as an academic discipline and research enterprise
   2. Demonstrate an understanding of the crime problem in the United States
   3. Describe criminology as an interdisciplinary science
   4. Provide a comparison of the field of criminology to criminal justice.
   5. Examine the similarities and differences between crime and deviance
   6. Outline the many subareas that make up the criminological enterprise
   7. Make a comparison of the consensus, conflict, and interactionist view of crime
   8. List the different types of research methods used by criminologists
   9. Explain why ethical issues in criminology are so important
2. Outline a Brief History of Criminology
   1. Review how crime was controlled during ancient and medieval times
   2. Define the meaning of classical criminology
   3. Outline the views of Beccaria and Bentham
   4. Explain the roots of positivist criminology
   5. Describe the theoretical framework of Cesare Lombroso
   6. Examine the concept of body type in explaining criminal behavior
   7. Evaluate early conceptions of mental dysfunction and crime
   8. Outline the contributions of both Quetelet and Durkheim
   9. Explain social ecology, social disorganization, and socialization
   10. Describe the views of Karl Marx toward the nature of crime.
3. Review the Criminal Law and Its Processes
   1. Describe the legal system in England and its changes
   2. Explain the origins and early development of the common law in England and the United States
   3. Identify the different ways that law can be classified
   4. Identify the differences between felonies and misdemeanors
   5. Describe the different functions of criminal law
   6. Discuss the legal definition of a crime
   7. State the differences between the various defenses to crime
   8. Discuss recent reforms of the criminal law.
4. Analyze the Nature and Extent of Crime
   1. Compare the Uniform Crime Report, self-report, and victim surveys
   2. Describe recent crime trends in the United States.
   3. Discuss the role of firearms in prompting interpersonal violence
   4. Describe the problem of the career criminal
   5. Describe the importance of cohort studies on chronic offenders
5. Identify Victims and Victimization
   1. Describe the costs of becoming a crime victim
   2. Explain the social ecology of victimization
   3. Identify where, when and how victimization occurs
   4. Compare social and demographic features which differentiate victims from non-victims
   5. Describe the meaning and importance of victim precipitation
   6. Explain social influences on the probability of becoming a victim
   7. Describe the government’s response to the needs of victims
   8. Describe the most important and common victim assistance programs
   9. Describe changes between the victim and the criminal justice system
   10. Describe target hardening measures.
6. Explain Choice and Deterrence Theories
   1. Describe the development of choice theory
   2. List the contributions of Bentham and Beccaria
   3. Define the concept of rational choice
   4. Define general deterrence
   5. Describe the research findings on capital punishment
   6. Discuss the role of informal sanctions on reducing crime
   7. Explain the limitations of a deterrent effect on human behavior
   8. Define the concept of selective incapacitation
   9. Describe the weaknesses of an incapacitation approach to crime control
   10. Discuss the theory of retribution, just desert
7. Summarize Biological and Psychological Theories
   1. Describe the general assumptions of biological theory
   2. Analyze the works of Lombroso, Garofalo, and Ferri
   3. Identify the findings between various biochemical factors and violent behavior.
   4. Discuss how phrenology and body types relate to crime
   5. Define the meaning and importance of electroencephalographs.
   6. Outline the relationships between neurological dysfunction and crime
   7. Explain the role of genes in predicting criminal behavior.
   8. Explain the psychoanalysts’ view of criminal behavior
   9. Explain the social learning and behavior modeling theories
   10. Explain how personality and intelligence affect criminal behavior
   11. Discuss the social policy implications of biological and psychological treatment in criminal justice
8. Explain Social Structure Theories
   1. Explain how the structure of American society promotes criminal behavior
   2. Explain the social structure perspective
   3. Describe the social disorganization theory
   4. Describe the views of strain theorists
   5. Compare Sellin’s conduct norms to Miller’s focal concern theory
   6. Explain Albert Cohen’s theory of delinquent subcultures
   7. Explain Cloward and Ohlin’s theory of differential opportunity
   8. Describe the development and the importance of gangs
   9. Discuss the relationship between social structure theory and social policy
9. Explain Social Process Theories
   1. Describe the role of family, peer group, and school in the development of criminal careers
   2. Explain the differential association theory
   3. Explain Akers’s differential reinforcement theory
   4. Describe neutralization theory and its techniques
   5. Evaluate the prominent forms of social learning theory
   6. Explain the social control theory developed by Travis Hirschi.
   7. Explain the labeling theory perspective on crime and deviance
   8. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the social process approach
   9. Describe the role of social process theory in social policy
10. Explain Social Conflict Theory
    1. Describe the origins and objectives of conflict criminology
    2. Describe the theory of the social reality of crime
    3. Identify the criticisms of the conflict theory
    4. Outline the development of Marxist (radical) criminology
    5. Compare the views and goals of instrumentalists to Structural Marxists
    6. Differentiate between a radical feminist perspective and a Marxist one
    7. Describe power-control theory’s view towards crime and delinquency rates.
    8. Describe interactional theory
    9. List the strengths and weaknesses of social process theory
11. Analyze Violent Crime
    1. Describe explanations for violent behavior
    2. Define the subculture of violence and its importance in explaining violent crime
    3. Evaluate the importance of geography in explaining violence.
    4. Describe the history, incidence, and causes of rape
    5. Explore the problems between law and the crime of rape.
    6. Describe the nature, types, and extent of murder
    7. Describe the nature, types, and extent of murder
    8. Explain the possible causes of child and spouse abuse
    9. Identify robber typologies
    10. Explain the reasons for hate crime
    11. Explain the reasons for hate crime
12. Examine Economic Crimes: Street Crimes
    1. Define economic crimes
    2. Make a comparison of occasional criminals to professional criminals
    3. Describe the lives of professional criminals
    4. Describe the qualities of a successful professional fence
    5. Explain the crime of larceny
    6. Describe research findings on shoplifting
    7. Describe naive check forgers and auto thieves
    8. Define burglary
    9. Explain the career of successful burglars
    10. Describe the nature and causes of arson
13. Explain Economic Crimes: Organizational Criminality
    1. Define white-collar crime
    2. Explain the nature of white-collar crime
    3. Identify the characteristics of swindles and chiseling
    4. Describe the problems of embezzlement
    5. Describe influence peddling in government, the criminal justice system, and in business
    6. Explain the different types of corporate crimes
    7. Explain the causes of white-collar crime
    8. Describe prosecution and punishment toward white-collar crime
    9. Describe the history, the characteristics and activities of organized crime
    10. Explain the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO)
14. Analyze Public Order Crime: Sex and Substance Abuse
    1. Explain the relationship between law and morality
    2. Describe attitudes and legal responses toward homosexuality, prostitution, and pornography
    3. Describe the various types of prostitutes
    4. Describe the relationship between pornography and violence
    5. Describe the most widely used illegal drugs
    6. Describe the drug laws that are in force today
    7. Describe the nature and extent of substance abuse.
    8. Describe drug-using lifestyles
    9. Explain the relationship between drugs and crime
    10. Describe the laws created to control drugs
15. Review the Criminal Justice System
    1. Define the concept of criminal justice
    2. Describe the functions and roles of the police, courts, and corrections
    3. Describe the similarities and differences between juvenile and adult justice systems
    4. Describe the processing of a felony offender
    5. Describe the four layers of Walker’s “wedding cake” model of criminal justice
    6. Explain the value of procedural laws in our society.
    7. Define the various dimensions of the concept of due process
    8. Describe the meaning of and controversies about the exclusionary rule
    9. Describe the meaning and importance of the models of justice
16. Review the Police
    1. Trace the history of the police
    2. Define the evolving concept of professionalism
    3. Make an analysis of the functions of law enforcement agencies.
    4. Define community policing and problem-oriented policing
    5. Describe the functions and effectiveness of patrol and investigation
    6. Make an analysis of the Miranda decision
    7. Explain the use of search warrants and warrantless searches.
    8. Discuss the factors associated with developing police personality and styles
    9. List justifications for the use of violence.
    10. Explain police corruption
17. Analyze the Judicatory Process
    1. Describe the state and federal court structures
    2. Describe the functions of the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the judge
    3. Describe the factors which influence prosecutorial discretion
    4. Describe the problems with bail as well as efforts to reform bail
    5. Explain the benefits and liabilities of the plea bargaining process
    6. Explain the jury selection process
    7. List the major steps in the criminal trial
    8. Explain the rights of an accused
    9. Describe the types and goals of sentencing
    10. Evaluate the effects of extralegal factors on sentencing outcomes
18. Assess Corrections
    1. Explain the uses of punishment
    2. Describe correctional reform
    3. Analyze the Auburn and Pennsylvania systems of imprisonment
    4. Define probation
    5. Describe probation sentences, services, rules, and effectiveness
    6. Analyze the uses of fines, forfeiture, restitution, shock probation, and split sentencing
    7. Assess probation supervision, house arrest, and residential community corrections
    8. Describe the functions and problems with jails
    9. Differentiate among maximum, medium, and minimum security prisons
    10. Describe the typical prisoner and subculture of male and female inmates
    11. Describe the uses and usefulness of various correctional treatment programs
    12. List the major causes of prison violence and prison riots
    13. Identify the major constitutional rights of inmates
    14. Define parole and the factors that influence parole