Intro to Crim & Crim Jus

This course will introduce students to the university-level disciplines that examine crime and its processing as empirical, social, economic, and legal phenomena. The course will begin by having the student examine what we know about the nature and extent of crime. Factors associated with criminal behavior will be detailed, as will trends in its occurrence over time. Why and how we define crime legally also will be discussed, along with theoretical schools of thought relating to its explanation. The course, then, will focus on the process and system developed in this country to deal with crime, offenders, and victims. Students will learn why criminal justice is considered a system and what themes characterize each part of it, from policing and the courts through punishment and release. The law surrounding our justice process will be a primary focus of this examination. Credit for CRIM 100 may not be earned if you have already earned credit for CRIM 115.