Crime and Justice in Sociological Perspective
Summer Session 2 2012
Time: M/W/Th 11:00-1:30
Location: VC 11130
Instructor: Andrew McKinney
Sociology and Anthropology Department
Office: 4-240-B
Phone #: 646-312-4003
Email: andrewgmckinney@gmail.com
Office Hours: 2:00-4:00 pm Monday
Course Description:
In this course we will survey several running themes in the development of criminology as
a social science. We will begin by examining the role of theories of deviance and
criminality informed by biology and its emphasis on the body in the development of
criminology. Both historical instances, like the work of famed (and infamous) criminal
anthropologist Cesare Lombroso, and more contemporary examples, like stop and frisk,
will be discussed. Secondly, we will trace the rise of a competing sociological discourse
that focuses more on the role of social structure, and less on individual bodies or psyches,
in the creation of deviant and criminal behavior. Third, we will delve further into the issue
of what (or who?) exactly constitutes deviance or crime and consider theories of social
construction and medicalization. And as a means of tying all three of strains of thought
together, we will consider the what role the state and the police have played and are
playing in creating both individuals and communities that are more manageable and less
capable of acting in deviant ways (for better or for worse).
Required Texts:
All readings will be available via Blackboard and through in class handouts. There will be
no need to purchase any texts.
Course Requirements:
1. Blog Posts: Students will take part in a class blog:
-Each student will be responsible for posting at least 5 (1 per week) links, Youtube
clips, or other web-based media on the blog accompanied by an at least 250 word
explanation as to why the clip or link is relevant to what we are reading in the
course.
-Each student will be responsible for commenting on separate blog posts at least 5
times in the semester. Each comment must be at least 250 words.
2. In-Class Writing: In each class there will be in-class writing (timed for no more than
10 to 15 minutes) that will be used as means to spur discussion. It is often difficult
to organize one’s thought about the reading, a movie we have watched, or a lecture
without writing them out. Hence, we’ll take time out in every class where everyone
will be required to respond to a prompt that I will give you that relates to what we
will have read for that class. These will be collected once time is up.
3. Final Exam: A take home final exam of 5-7 pages will be due via email 8/22.
Questions for the exam will be provided in the 8/8 class.
4. Class Participation, Attendance, and Attentiveness: Class participation is very
important, specifically in the summer session when classes are 2 ½ hours long. It
will make the class much more enjoyable for both you and me if we are participating
in lively discussion together. No one (especially me) wants to have me lecture all
class. That said, I am also aware that some people are shy or are not as comfortable
with the English language as others. Therefore, this portion of your grade includes
your attendance record and what I like to call “attentiveness.” Don’t look like you’re
about to fall asleep. Don’t actually fall asleep. Don’t whisper to your friends. And for
goodness sake: DO NOT TEXT!
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is unacceptable. You will receive a failing grade on the assignment
if you are caught plagiarizing. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else’s
work as one’ s own in all forms of academic endeavor (such as essay, theses, examinations,
research data, creative projects, etc), intentional or unintentional. Plagiarized material may
be derived from a variety of sources, such as books, journals, Internet postings, student or
faculty papers, etc. This includes the purchase of written assignments for a course. For
further reference please see the CUNY-wide policy of academic dishonesty online or in your
student handbook.
Other Expectations: ALWAYS bring the texts to class. I will often be reading directly from
the text (especially the more difficult pieces) in order to further your understanding of it
and you will need to follow along. If a classmate is making reference to the text, you will
also need to be able to follow along. Without the text, you will be unable to take advantage
of the full learning experience.
Week 1
Monday 7/16: Opening Lecture, Meet Each Other, watch Post Mortem
Wednesday 7/18: Stuart Ewen “Identifying the Group Within the Invididual”, “Finding the
Individual Within the Group”, and “Criminal Types” from Typecasting: On The Arts and
Sciences of Inequality
Thursday 7/19: Simon Cole “Jekylls and Hydes” and “Imposters and Incorrigible Rouges”
from Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification
Cesare Lombroso “Why Homicide Has Increased in the United States, Parts 1 and 2”
Week 2
Monday 7/23: Dawn Rae Flood “Deviance Gendered, Criminology Exposed”
Lisa Downing “Murder in the Feminine: Marie Lafarge and the Sexualization of the
Nineteenth-Century Criminal Woman”
Wednesday 7/25: Emile Durkheim “What is a Social Fact”
Gabriel Tarde “Criminal Youth”
Thursday 7/26: Robert Merton “Social Structure and Anomie”
Robert Agnew “A Revised Strain Theory of Delinquency”
Week 3
Monday 7/30: Howard Becker “The Outsiders”
Erving Goffman Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity
Wednesday 8/1: IN CLASS MOVIE – Witch Hunt
Thursday 8/2: Stuart Hall, et al. Policing the Crisis: Mugging, The State, and Law & Order
Week 4
Monday 8/6: Peter Conrad and Joseph Schneider “From Badness to Sickness: The
Medicalization of Deviance”
John Seabrook “Suffering Souls”
Jeffrey Rosen “The Brain on the Stand”
Wednesday 8/8: IN CLASS MOVIE The Medicated Child.
Thursday 8/9: Michel Foucault “Docile Bodies” from Discipline and Punish
Week 5
Monday 8/13: John Tagg “A Means of Surveillance: The Photograph as Evidence in Law”
from The Burden of Representation: Essay on Photographies and Histories
David Garland “Criminological Knowledge and Its Relation to Power: Foucault’s Genealogy
and Criminology Today”
Wednesday 8/15: Giles Deleuze “Postscripts on Societies of Control”
George Kelling and James Q. Wilson “Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood
Safety
Thursday 8/16: Graham Rayman “NYPD Tapes” Series in The Village Voice