Not offered 2007-2008
SOC 215 Crime in the Streets
A sociological examination of violent crime and crimefighting in America. Topics include: violent urban youth gangs and crews; ethnically-based organized crime "families"; the
recruitment, socialization, argot, culture, and worldviews of professional criminals; the stages
of criminal careers; the ethics of criminal groups; the violence emerging out of the drug
trade; the work worlds and habits of mind of crimefighters, with a special focus on
uniformed police officers, detectives, and prosecutors; the symbolic representations of
criminals and crimefighters in American popular culture; the relationships between law,
crime, moral narratives, and social order; the crisis of the criminal justice system in
America; and the globalization of crime. Special attention to the process of the criminal
investigation.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: midterm paper, final exam, and a term paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25. Preference given to first-year students, sophomores,
and Anthropology and Sociology majors.
JACKALL