A brief review of the nature, extent and location of criminality provides the foundation for description and analysis. This course provides a comprehensive presentation of the sociological theories of criminal and delinquent behavior, the nature of legal definitions of crime and the extent of crime in America. The course also provides a sociological analysis of law enforcement. An examination of different organizational and operational procedures found among various police structures and their techniques of crime control and law enforcement. Each has its own history dating to social movements as far back as the colonial period striving to establish a progressive criminal justice system.
Special emphasis is placed on community corrections and alcohol and drug abuse treatment.
A look at social behavior and social institutions through the eyes of fiction writers. The class will read a selection of modern short fiction and view several contemporary movies. Historical and cross-cultural comparisons will be emphasized. This course seeks to examine, describe and explain the conditions which surround a number of racial and minority groups in contemporary America. This course attempts to describe and discuss various historical and contemporary sociological perspectives regarding gay men and lesbians.