POL 64: Crime and Punishment – 3 credits, 3 hours
Course Description:
This course emphasizes the in-depth examination of the causes and theories of crime and the various methods of punishment. It will examine explanatory power of the classical theory of crime, the positive school of criminology including its three subfields: the biological, psychological and sociological approaches. In addition, this course will examine the history, theory and politics of punishment including, probation, incarceration, time-off for good behavior and parole, sentencing guidelines and the judical use of discretion, mandatory sentencing, the function of a deterrence in punishment, and the effectiveness of the ultimate punishment, the death penalty.
Learning Goals:
To give students an in-depth understanding of the causes of crime in the United States and the range of legal sanctions imposed by the criminal justice system through the analysis of selected case studies.
To foster skills necessary for students to acquire a broader frame of reference with which they can evaluate all major aspects of the American legal and criminal justice experiece.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to understand:
The elements of a crime
Theories of criminal behavior
The rights of the accused
The distinction between legal and illegal police and prosecutorial procedures
The roles played by the police, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, juries, and corrections officers
The deterrent effect, or lack thereof, of sanctions imposed – such as fines, jail and prison sentences – for various crimes such as violations, misdemeanors and felonies.
Assessment:
The strategies used to show that students’ learning was achieved include:
Giving essay exams
Giving quizzes
Homework assignments
Assigning research papers
Asking direct questions of students in class
Soliciting students informed opinions in class
Assigning oral presentations
Evaluation:
Examinations, which require essay writing and test reading comprehension and fluency as well as mastery of critical thinking skills reveal that seventy-five percent of students are able to articulate a working knowledge of how the crime occurs and punishment is meted out in the criminal justice system.
Class participation shows which students understand relevant criminal justice concepts.
Course Outline:
I. Basic Explanations of Crime and Punishment
II. The history of Crime and Punishment
III. Crime in the context of Race, Gender, Youth and Class
IV. The Various Types of Punishment
V. Correctional Programs and Alternative Treatments
VI. Criminological Research and Policy Analysis
VII. Long-Term Trends in Crime and Punishment
Selected Bibliography:
Beckett, Katherine and Theodore Sasson. The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America. Pine Forge Press, 2000.
Bohn, Robert M., Deathquest: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Capital Punishment. Anderson, 1999.
Brundage, W. Fitzhugh. ed. Under Sentence of Death: Lynching in the South. University of North Carolina Press, 1997
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Cabana, Donald A. Death at Midnight: The Confessions of an Executioner. Northeast University Press, 1996.
Carter, Gregg L. The Gun Control Movement. Macmillian, 1997.
Chambliss, William J. Power, Politics, and Crime. Westview Press, 1999.
Conlon, Edward. Blue Bood. New York, Riverhead. 2004.
Dow, David R., and Dow, Mark, eds. Machinery of Death: The Reality of America’s Death Penalty Regime. Routledge, 2002,
Elikann, Peter. The Tough-on-Crime Myth. Pilenum, 1996.
Gillespie, L. Kay. Dancehall Ladies: The Crimes and Executions of America’s Condemned Women. University Press of America, 1997.
Gonnerman, Jennifer. Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. New York, Picador, 2005.
Hale, Robert H. A Review of Juvenile Executions in America. Edwin Mellen Press, 1997.
Hearn, Frank. Moral Order and Social Disorder. Aldine de Gruyter, 1998.
Irwin, James and Austin, John. It is About Time: America’s Imprisonment Binge, 3rd ed. Wadsworth, 2001.
Kleck, Gary. Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control. Aldine de Gruyer, 1997.
Lott, John. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
May, John P., ed. Building Violence: How America’s Rush to Incarcerate Creates More Violence. Sage Publication, 2000.
Messner, Steven F. and Richard Rosenfeld. Crime and the American Dream, 2nd ed. Wadsworth, 1997.
O’Shea, Kathleen A. Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998. Greenwood, 1999.
Reiman, Jeffrey. The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice, 6th ed. Allyn & Bacon, 2001.
Reiman, Jeffrey and Pojman, L. The Death Penalty: For and Against. Rowman & Littlefeld, 1997.
Rubin, Edward L. ed. Minimizing Harm: A New Crime Policy for Modern America. Westview Press, 1999.
Sarat, Austin D. ed. The Killing State: Capital Punishment in Law, Politics, and Culture. Oxford University Press, 1998.
Shichor, David and Sechrest, Dale, K. Three Strikes and You’re Out: Vengeanance as Pubic Policy. Sage Publications, 1996.
Simpson, Sally, ed. Of Crime and Criminality: The Use of Theory in Everday Life. Pine Forge Press, 2000.
Sherman, Lawrence., Janell D. Schmidt, and Dennis P. Rogan, D. Policing Domestic Violence: Experiments and Dilemmas. Free Press, 1992.
Trebach, Arnold S., and James Inciardi. Legalize It? Debating Drug Policy. American University Press, 1993.
Van Wormer, Katherine S. and Clemens Bartollas. Working with Women in the Criminal Justice System. Allyn & Bacon, 1999.
Von Drehle, David. Among the Lowest of the Dead: The Culture of Death Row. Times Books, 1995.
Zimring, Franklin, and Hawkins, G. Crime is Not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America. Oxford University Press, 1997.
