CRIME, DEVIANCE and LAW

Crime, Delinquency, and Deviance is a diverse area of sociological study that involves the scientific analysis of crime, criminals, and the criminal justice system. Students in this area of concentration critically examine what is defined as criminal and the forces that create formal and informal rules, how crime is measured, and how the law and other mechanisms of social control are differentially applied to people. Faculty in this area cover a broad range of research interests in the field of criminology and take various approaches to research and teaching. Faculty expertise ranges from social psychological explanations for criminal behavior and the effects of deviant identities to macro level issues such as why females commit less crime than males, race differences in offending and criminal justice experiences, criminal justice policy issues and trends in crime, to multilevel topics like the measurement of crime and the effects of community on individual behavior. Graduate student training in criminology reflects this breadth as well as departmental strengths in both theory and methods.

Cime, Deviance
and Law
Faculty

Clay Mosher
Jennifer Schwartz