Faculty in the area of Crime, Law, and Deviance investigate: 1) how sociocultural systems and change influences institutions of social control and social definitions of crime and deviance; 2) how patterns of crime and deviance affect the structure and functioning of sociocultural systems; and 3) how social positions and identities (including those related to changes over the life course) affect crime and deviance. Each conceptual theme, whether Crime, Law, or Deviance have a unique scholarly literature as does their intersection reflected in disciplines such as Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Social Justice.
The ten faculty members specializing in this area of concentration have a range of research interests. They have incorporated an assortment of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches towards answering societal questions of significance.
Professional organizations that overlap with this area of concentration include the American Sociological Association (ASA), Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS), American Society of Criminology (ASC), Law and Society Association (LSA), the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), in addition to many regional organizations.
The Howard B. Kaplan Laboratory for Social Science Research as extensive and unique data available to those in this field who are interested in joining a current project or submitting a new research proposal.
Major and Minor in the PhD Program
According to the new guidelines of the Sociology Graduate Program, doctoral students declare a major (three courses) and a minor (one course) from any of the American Sociological Association (ASA) sections. The ASA sections that are most relevant for graduate students who work in the Crime, Law, and Deviance area include:
- Aging and the Life Course
- Collective Behavior and Social Movements
- Community and Urban Sociology
- Comparative-Historical Sociology
- Crime, Law, and Deviance
- Drugs and Society
- Environmental Sociology
- Inequality, Poverty, and Mobility
- International Migration
- Latina/o Sociology
- Peace, War, and Social Conflict
- Race, Gender, and Class
- Racial and Ethnic Minorities
- Sociological Practice and Public Sociology
- Sociology of Culture
- Sociology of Human Rights
- Sociology of Indigenous People and Native Nations
- Sociology of Law
- Sociology of Mental Health
Undergraduate Courses
- SOCI 211 Sociology Deviance
- SOCI 304 Criminology
- SOCI 313 Military, War and Society
- SOCI 338 Latino Immigration
- SOCI 422 Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Justice
- SOCI 445 Sociology of Law
- SOCI 489 Juvenile Delinquency
Graduate Courses
- SOCI 627 Seminar in Law, Deviance and Social Control: Foundations of Crime, Law and Deviance
- SOCI 627 Seminar in Law, Deviance and Social Control: Crime, Punishment and the Life Course
- SOCI 627 Seminar in Law, Deviance and Social Control: Race, Ethnicity, Crime and Justice
- SOCI 628 Deviant Behavior
- SOCI 629 Sociology of Law