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Course website for SOC371: Criminology

University of Washington

Charles Lanfear
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SOC 371

Criminology

University of Washington

Course Material

Date Topic and Readings
Jan 4 Introduction and Overview of Criminology
(Zoom Recording)
No assigned reading
Jan 6 Classical Criminology
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Trevino, A. Javier. 1996. “Cesare Beccaria: Legal Reformer.” Pp. 13-20 in The Sociology of Law: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

(2) Radzinowicz, Sir Leon. 1966. Ideology and Crime. New York: Columbia University. Pp. 1-28
Jan 11 Definitions of Crime and Criminal Law
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Hagan, John L. 1985. “Defining Crime: An Issue of Morality.” Pp. 3-9 in Modern Criminology: Crime, Criminal Behavior, and Its Control. New York: McGraw-Hill.

(2) Kauzlarich, David, and David O. Friedrichs. 2005. “Definitions of Crime.” Pp. 273-275 in Encyclopedia of Criminology. Edited by Richard Wright and J. Mitchell Miller. New York: Routledge.

(3) Hemmens, Craig. 2005. “Defenses to Criminal Liability: Justifications and Excuses.” Pp. 377-380 in Encyclopedia of Criminology. Edited by Richard Wright and J. Mitchell Miller. New York: Routledge
Jan 13 Trends in Crime, Violence, Incarceration
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Western, Bruce, and Becky Pettit. 2002. “Beyond Crime and Punishment: Prisons and Inequality.” Contexts 1:37-43.

(2) Baumer, Eric P. and Kevin T. Wolff. 2014. “Evaluating Contemporary Crime Drop(s) in America, New York City, and Many Other Places.” Justice Quarterly 31(1):5-38
Jan 18 No Class

No assigned reading
Jan 20 Measuring Crime and Policing
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Loftin, Colin and David McDowall. 2010. “The Use of Official Records to Measure Crime and Delinquency.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology 26(4):527-32.

(2) Ehrenberg, Rachel. 2012. “Reliance on Raw Statistics Makes City Crime Rankings Misleading.” Science News 181(12):9

(3) Bronner, Laura. 2020. “Why Statistics Don’t Capture The Full Extent Of The Systemic Bias In Policing”. FiveThirtyEight.
Jan 25 Rational Choice and Deterrence 1
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Marshall, Chris E. 2002. “Deterrence Theory.” Pp. 512-515 in Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment. Edited by D. Levinson. Beverly Hills: Sage

(2) Levitt, Steven D. 2002. “Deterrence.” Pp. 435-450 in Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control. Edited by J.Q. Wilson and J. Petersilia. Oakland, CA: ICS press
Jan 27 Rational Choice and Deterrence 2
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Sherman, Lawrence W., and Richard A. Berk. 1984. “The Deterrent Effect of Arrest for Domestic Assault.” Pp. 357-361 in Classics of Criminology. Edited by J. E. Jacoby. Prospect Heights: Waveland

(2) Cohen, Lawrence and Marcus Felson. 1979. Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach. American Sociological Review 44 (4): 588-608

Midterm 1
Feb 1 Criminal Careers and Selective Incapacitation
(Zoom Recording)
Blumstein, Alfred, and Jacqueline Cohen. 1987. “Characterizing Criminal Careers.” Science 237:985-991
Feb 3 Control Theory and the Life Course
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Hirschi, Travis. [1969] 2001. Causes of Delinquency. New Brunswick, N.J: Transaction Publishers. Chapters 1 & 2

(2) Sampson, Robert J., and John H. Laub. 1990. “Crime and Deviance over the Life Course: The Salience of Adult Social Bonds.” American Sociological Review 55:609-27.
Feb 8 Social Disorganization 1
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Sampson, Robert J., and W. Byron Groves. 1989. “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social-Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 94(4):774-802

(2) Shaw and McKay, “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas.” Pp. 98-104 in Criminological Theory: Past to Present, 4th Ed. Edited by F.T. Cullen and R. Agnew. Oxford University Press: New York.
Feb 10 Social Disorganization 2
(Zoom Recording)
Peterson, Ruth D., and Lauren J. Krivo. 2010. Divergent Social Worlds. Pp. 1-70
Feb 15 No Class

No assigned reading
Feb 17 Urban Underclass, Social Capital, and Collective Efficacy 1
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Sampson, Robert J., and William J. Wilson. 1994. “Race, Crime and Urban Inequality.” In Crime and Inequality. Edited by J. Hagan and R. Peterson. Stanford: Stanford University Press

(2) Sampson, Robert J. 2006. “Social Ecology and Collective Efficacy Theory.” Pp. 132-140 in The Essential Criminology Reader. Edited by S. Henry and M.M. Lanier. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Feb 22 Urban Underclass, Social Capital, and Collective Efficacy 2
(Zoom Recording)
Peterson, Ruth D., and Lauren J. Krivo. 2010. Divergent Social Worlds. Pp. 71-125
Feb 24 Broken Windows and Collective Efficacy
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Wilson and Kelling. 1982. “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety.” The Atlantic Monthly, March, pp. 29-38.

(2) Sampson, Robert J. and Stephen W. Raudenbush. 1999. “Systematic Social Observation of Public Spaces: A New Look at Disorder in Urban Neighborhoods.” American Journal of Sociology 105(3): 603-651.

(3) Keizer, Kees, Siegwart Lindenberg, and Linda Steg. 2008. “The Spreading of Disorder.” Science 322:1681- 1685

Midterm 2
Mar 1 Differential Association and Code of the Street 1
(Zoom Recording)
(1) Matsueda, Ross L. 2001. “Differential Association Theory,” In Encyclopedia of Criminology and Deviant Behavior, Vol.1, edited by Clifton D. Bryant. New York: Taylor and Francis.

(2) Anderson, Elijah. 1998. “The Social Ecology of Youth Violence.” Pp. 79-104 in Youth Violence. Edited by M. Tonry and M.H. Moore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

(3) Matsueda, Ross L, Kevin Drakulich and Charis E. Kubrin. 2006. “Race and Neighborhood Codes of Violence.” Pp. 334-336 in The Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America, edited by Peterson, Krivo, and Hagan. New York:NYU Press
Mar 3 Differential Association and Code of the Street 2
(Zoom Recording)
Hagan, John, and Wenona Rymond-Richmond. 2009. Darfur and the Crime of Genocide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-103
Mar 8 Collective Violence 1
(Zoom Recording)
Matsueda, “Differential Social Organization, Collective Action, and Crime.” Crime, Law, and Social Change 46(1-2):3-33
Mar 10 Collective Violence 2
(Zoom Recording)
Hagan, John, and Wenona Rymond-Richmond. 2009. Darfur and the Crime of Genocide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 103-218

Final Exam