Welcome to Sociology 372

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Welcome to Sociology 372

• CRIME, POLITICS, AND JUSTICE

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First Section of the Course

• Understandings of crime and approaches to justice
  are shaped by time (history) and space (culture
  and society).
• This means that definitions of crime and justice
  vary across time and space.
• These understandings have important consequences.

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Second Section of the Course

• Sociological perspectives on the criminal
• justice system
• Marxian class conflict.
• Critical race theory racial inequality.
• Weberian theory bureaucratic dynamics and status
  conflicts.
• Feminist theory gender roles and hierarchies.
• Durkheimian morality and emotions.

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Third Section of the Course

• 3. The United States has institutionalized a
  distinctive approach to crime and justice over
  the past few years.
• This has had important social, institutional,
  political, and cultural consequences.

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Quiz Question 1

• 1. The U.S. incarceration rate is
• A. Comparatively high
• B. Comparatively low
• C. About average

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Quiz Question 2

• 2. Over the past several decades, crime rates
  have fairly steadily increased.
• A. True
• B. False

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Quiz Question 3

• 3. Many other industrialized nations also execute
  convicted criminals.
• False
• True

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Quiz Question 4

• 4. In the United States, sentences for property
  crimes and drug offenses are
• A. Comparatively long
• B. Comparatively short
• C. About average

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U.S. Incarceration Rate
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U.S. Incarceration Rates in International Context
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U.S. National Criminal Victimization Survey
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Questions to be Explored

• 1. How do definitions of crime and justice vary,
  and why does this matter?
• 2. What do sociological theories teach us about
  criminal law and criminal justice in the United
  States?
• 3. How is crime understood and how is justice
  pursued in the contemporary United States?
• How has this affected criminal justice
  institutions and U.S. society more broadly?

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Grading

• Discussion section 20
• Midterm 1 20
• Midterm 2 25
• Final exam 35
• 100

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Reading Materials

• Three required books, available at the University
  Bookstore
• A course reader, available at RAMs
• It is VERY important that you complete the
  reading before your discussion section

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Etiquette

• Please turn off cell phones and pagers.
• Please refrain from chatting once class has
  begun.
• Please do not pack up until the bell has rung.
• If you need to leave early, please let me know
  ahead of time and sit near the aisle.