CRIMINOLOGY
SOC 361
Summer 2005
CUE, Room 318
M, T, W, Th, Fr : 12:00-13:15

Instructor: Arina Gertseva
Office: Wilson Hall room 210
Office Hours: T & Th 11:00-12:00 or by appointment
Phone: 335-4595 (message only)
Email: garina@wsu.edu
Web site: http://cooley.libarts.wsu.edu/soc3612/

Required Books (available at the WSU Bookstore)
Siegel, L. (2004). Criminology: Theories, Patterns, & Typologies, 8e. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. ISBN 0534615783.

Course Purpose: 

This course provides an exploration of the causes of crime in American society, facilitating an ability to think and express one's self clearly and scientifically about the causes of crime and its control.  Students will be challenged to go beyond glib explanations, avoiding such terms as "bad" and "mean" to understand the complex pathways of influences on human behavior that lead to criminal thoughts, urges, and behavior.

   Most experts agree that criminology encompasses a wide range of subfields: applied criminology, comparative criminology, criminal behavior systems, criminal justice, criminal statistics, criminalistics, juvenile delinquency, penology, rehabilitation, the sociology of law, theoretical criminology, and victimology. This course is primarily a course in etiology, and this type of criminology has many roots, drawing upon diverse disciplines like anthropology, biology, psychology, religion, and sociology, to name a few. In other words, this course is interdisciplinary. 

    Paradigms in criminology, the importance of criminal law, crime statistics, and correlates of crime are also studied in this course. Students are advised to let the instructor worry about pace and coverage of the theories while they absorb themselves in the basics, reading, and as many supplements and resources as possible.  While topics in the course calendar are subject to change, allowing for some flexibility, due dates for readings, assignments, exams, and other deadlines are less flexible.

Course Requirements: (I reserve right to change syllabus to better serve class needs)

Attendance: I will take attendance for the majority of lectures but not for all. In any case, students are strongly encouraged to attend every lecture, since much of the material on the exams will be covered only in lecture--not in the readings. Furthermore, whether present or not, everyone is responsible for all information covered and any assignments made in every class. In order to maintain a productive atmosphere for education, everyone is asked to come to class on time and to turn off personal communication devices (beepers and cell phones) during class sessions.

Quizzes and/or short writing tasks: The instructor reserves the right to give several quizzes pertaining to the course readings or videos, such as providing an example to illustrate a phenomenon, or voicing a criticism of an author whose work you will read. However, these quizzes will count for no more than ten percent of the course grade. See below for a description of possible short writing assignments that would also count toward the same ten percent of the course grade.

Exams: You will be tested three times during the semester. The exams will seek to gauge not only your ability to memorize pertinent facts about crime and criminology but also your ability to draw inferences from facts and logical deductions from theories and your ability to connect theories learned in the course to real world applications. The response that will receive full credit is what I consider to be the best answer. Cheating on the exams will result in a failing grade on the exam and a referral to the appropriate Dean’s office.

Participation: Students have an opportunity to earn up to ten extra points in the course through class participation. I encourage students who have not done the assigned reading to let others respond to questions first. This helps keep class discussion focused and flowing. Note also that I value good questions even more than good answers. Classroom participation that detracts from focused, intellectual discourse will not improve your grade. Please do not ask about your discussion grade before classes end for the semester.

Writing Assignments: You will be asked to submit several homework assignments. To invoke the lingo of criminal justice, the instructor will fully enforce a “zero tolerance” policy for plagiarism. All suspicious work will be thoroughly and fairly investigated and the consequences for plagiarism will be certain, swift, and severe (e.g. a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment and, possibly, a referral to the Dean’s office). Late assignments will not be accepted. Exceptions will be made for the portion of the assignment’s lateness that is due to illness or a family emergency (or other exceptional circumstances).

Final paper: There is one 7-10 page final term (research report) paper. More details in class.

Make-up Exams: Students with a valid, documented excuse (see above) who are unable to take the exams may take a make-up exam at the make-up exam sessions designated and administered by the Sociology Department. Students without a valid excuse will not be permitted to take the make-up exam for a grade.

Honor Code: It should go without saying, but anyone caught cheating will receive and F for the course and be reported to Student Affairs. This includes plagiarism, which is using someone else’s ideas and/or words without giving her/him written credit. This includes your text, as well as online sources. Cutting and pasting sentences from the internet into your own paper without proper citation is plagiarism. Don’t do it. If you need assistance in determining what may or may not be plagiarism, please ask.

Library Policy: The Department of Sociology expects all students to use the WSU library responsibly. Defacing, concealing, removing sections of, or stealing any library materials and interfering with the work of others are misdemeanors. Suspected violations will be reported to the WSU police. If you abuse library materials, you will fail the course.

Students with Disabilities: In accordance with University policy, if you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required. Students with disabilities must verify eligibility through the Office of Student Disability Services.

Course Grade: Your grade will be scored on a 460 point scale and will be apportioned in the following manner:

Final Grade Scale: 

Lecture Topics, Required Reading and Dates

Please do the reading corresponding to a lecture in advance of the lecture. (Topics and readings are subject to change at least two days in advance of the corresponding lecture date.).