The purpose of this course is to survey the theoretical and
empirical literature on interpersonal violence, focusing mostly on
homicide. An additional objective of the course is to develop the
skills necessary to create professional presentations and scientific
articles. We begin with a discussion of (1) how to organize our
research for a professional audience (including developing a set of
criteria we will use to evaluate scientific research in our class),
(2) causal inference, and (3) different methodologies employed to
study violence.
We then examine measurement issues (e.g., where can we find
information about violence? how do we measure violence?). Following
this, we will discuss the major temporal, spatial, and demographic
patterns of violence in the United States (e.g., how have rates
changed over time?
where are rates of violence higher/lower? which demographic groups
experience higher/lower rates of violence?). The next several weeks
(i.e., the largest portion of the course) will be spent discussing
and evaluating several explanations of violence (e.g., are economic
conditions related to violence? are there subcultures of violence?
is weather related to violence? the media? alcohol? guns? criminal
sanctions? is violence Acontagious?@). We end the semester with a
series of conference-like presentations by students based on their
term papers.

Class meeting:  Mondays, 2:30-5:00

Instructor:  Professor William Alex Pridemore, criminal justice
department