SSCI 5100G - Graduate Seminar on Contemporary Issues in Criminology

The main objective of this course is to provide an in-depth, critical overview of several new directions and debates in contemporary criminological theory and research. Students are required to engage in a critical analysis of relevant public discourse, research and scholarly literature, and appropriate theoretical and conceptual foundations on selected issues in relation to the nature, extent of and response to crime in modern societies. The course requires students to apply what they have learned to controversial moral, social, economic, political and/or legal issues and their relationship to crime. Topics covered depend on the expertise and interests of the instructor and may include, but are not limited to, critical versus traditional perspectives, economic and white-collar crime, state crime, the ethics of criminological research, environmental design and crime, criminalization and punishment, environmental pollution, cybercrime, media made criminality, organized crime, terrorism, drugs, the criminalization and victimization of women, and other timely and relevant issues emerging from current literature and conference debates.
Credit hours: 3