Introduction into Criminology for Social Science Students

Course goals

After this course: 

• Students have knowledge of and insight to the fundamental themes and conceptual frameworks of criminology as a discipline, as well as a basic understanding of criminology’s historical trajectory and its multi-disciplinarity.

• Students are familiar with the characteristics of the late-modern sociopolitical context, insofar it is relevant for understanding contemporary crime and crime reaction discourses.

• Students are capable to collect, process and assess social scientific (criminological and/or legal) literature, and utilize it for various written and oral activities.

• Students have developed argumentation and communication skills (both in written and oral form).

Content

Criminology is a multidisciplinary social science occupied with understanding and explaining crime and deviance as a social, political and cultural phenomenon. Criminology studies and attempts to understand the individuals committing crime, those who become victim to it and the plethora of possible (formal and informal) social reactions to deviant behavior. Historically, criminology has had a strong pragmatic tendency with criminologists investigating how crime should be dealt with or what are the optimal punishment practices and crime prevention (policy) strategies.

This course aims to provide an introductory insight to the discipline of Criminology and its relevance for late-modern, globalized societal contexts. Upon outlining the development of the discipline since the 18^th century and its theoretical tenets, the students will get acquainted to criminological thought and knowledge through a thematic approach (please note: a more comprehensive treatment of existing criminological theories is part of the follow-up course ‘Criminological Theory’). Through this thematic approach the students are encouraged to critically question assumptions and misconceptions around salient aspects of the crime phenomenon. Through a series of lectures, the students will become familiar with basic debates around punishment and penology, discrimination and racism, victimology, environmental harm, corporate crime and crimes of the powerful, and the role of media in framing crime and crime control discourses.

Introduction to Criminology for Social Science Students focuses on students with a social science background. In the seminars students focus on an introduction to criminal law, in order to understand legal thinking on a basic level.