Law, Justice and Society (SOC207)

This course provides an overview and continuing introduction to the criminal justice system in the United States from its beginnings through the second decade of the twenty-first century. Students will link the foundation of the system in its adherence to laws and respect for civil rights and civil liberties as articulated in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to the visible manifestations of our system of criminal justice as embodied in the police, the courts, and the correctional apparatus.  Topics such as juvenile crime and juvenile institutions, sex crimes and sex offenders, criminological theory and crime explanation, the roles of gender, race, culture, and the media in our understanding of crime, terrorism and cybercrime, contemporary policing and police organizations, and the court and correctional systems will all be carefully considered, surveyed, examined, and investigated.