This course examines U.S. crime control policies and the factors –
politics, economics, media, public opinion, research – that shape
and influence crime control initiatives.  The course will offer an
introduction to the politics of crime control, dissecting both key
policy issues of our time and the policymaking process generally.
Against this backdrop, a selection of key crime control initiatives,
issues, and programs will be analyzed, ranging from prohibition and
the mobster era to the war on terror, enduring issues such as the
death penalty and war on drugs, and more specific initiatives such
as problem oriented policing and three-strikes and you’re out
sentencing policies.

The historical and political roots of each initiative will be traced
along with implementation and the resulting life course of the
policy, leading to an evaluation of the initiative’s effect. Our
review of crime control policy in the U.S. will be contextualized
across time and place, offering a historical and cross-cultural
perspective to crime control initiatives.  This examination of the
development and influence of crime control initiatives will be in
effort to discuss the questions of: “what works, what doesn’t, and
what does it all mean?” regarding what we do about crime and
criminal justice.

Class meeting:  1:30-2:30, Daily

Instructor: Amy Kearns, criminal justice department