Course Description
Examines sociological theories and research on communities and crime, including spatial variation in crime rates and the impact of efforts to control crime on the structure and well- being of communities.
Athena Title
Communities and Crime
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in SOCI 3820, SOCI 3820S
Non-Traditional Format
This version of the course will be taught as writing intensive, which means that the course will include substantial and ongoing writing assignments that a) relate clearly to course learning; b) teach the communication values of a discipline—for example, its practices of argument, evidence, credibility, and format; and c) prepare students for further writing in their academic work, in graduate school, and in professional life. The written assignments will result in a significant and diverse body of written work (the equivalent of 6000 words or 25 pages), and the instructor (and/or the teaching assistant assigned to the course) will be closely involved in student writing, providing opportunities for feedback and substantive revision.
Prerequisite
SOCI 1101 or SOCI 1101H or SOCI 2600 or permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The objective of this course is for students to learn the complex interplay of global, national, and local processes which contribute to variation in crime rates across communities and how these processes differentially affect racial/ethnic groups. Students learn to distinguish between the assumptions which underlie different perspectives on urban social problems and public policy. For WIP, students will be engaged in a mix of “low stakes” and “high stakes” writing opportunities. Over the course of the semester, students will write four in-class response essays of approximately 250 words each. These essays will require students to respond and critically react to a course reading, video, audio, or lecture content. The primary focus of these essays will be strengthening students’ abilities to critically assess a particular argument or presentation in light of course materials. For the major assignment of the course, students will write a research paper in three stages during the semester, culminating in a 20-page final paper. The paper requires students to write a community profile of one U.S. city using publicly available data, research and describe a current or recent intervention program used by that city to address crime, and analyze the community profile and intervention in light of course content on theories of crime causation at the community level. The instructor and TA will support students’ writing through three mechanisms: 1) written feedback on each assignment from the instructor/TA; 2) three in-class peer review workshops in which students read each other’s work and provide written and verbal feedback; and 3) two required one-on-one conferences, one with the instructor and one with the TA. Students will be provided with a detailed grading rubric for each assignment to assess their own fulfillment of the assignment requirements as well as to be used by their peers in providing feedback and the instructor/TA in grading.
Topical Outline
Historical Overview The Dynamics of Urban Decline The Creation and Perpetuation of Ghetto Neighborhoods The Significance of Race/Ethnicity The Structure of Opportunity and Behavioral Outcomes Social Policy Surviving in the Ghetto – The Role of Gangs Community Crime and Its Control