The Social Institution of Sentencing

SOCS 24

The courtroom is the primary social institution responsible for the determination of criminal punishment. This course examines the social and institutional contexts of sentencing, specifically how the "courtroom workgroup"—judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel—negotiate "going rates" for crim…

Thinking Sociologically with Numbers

SOC 206

In this course, students learn how to think about social issues numerically. They learn the fundamentals of social statistics with a focus on interpretation, including quantitative data types, learning how to describe and present data (including data visualization), sampling, probability, and bivari…

Crime, Justice, and Society

SOC 211

This course provides a broad overview of crime and justice from a sociological perspective. Topics include why certain behaviors are deemed criminal and others are not, how and why criminal laws are developed, why some individuals break those laws, and the role of the criminal justice system in soci…