Teaching Criminological Theory

Teaching Criminological Theory is designed to help novice instructors of criminological theory courses become the best and most effective teachers possible. This comprehensive guide provides insight, information, examples, anecdotes, and supplemental materials to help instructors effectively develop their ability to competently and efficiently teach criminological theory to their students. Over the course of seven chapters, new theory instructors will learn how to construct an effective syllabus, make a positive impression on the first day of class, apply tried and true teaching methods to criminological theory instruction, engage students in new ways, and use student evaluations to continue to improve their course. The text also discusses the common challenges in teaching criminological theory, as well as the myriad opportunities that can make teaching the subject especially gratifying. Boasting accessible and highly applicable content, Teaching Criminological Theory is an ideal text for instructors who are new to teaching criminological theory courses. Shelly L. Clevenger, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice Sciences at Illinois State University. She earned her bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees in criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has published numerous book chapters and articles on victimology and sexual assault. She has also been recognized for her teaching in these areas by Illinois State University with both college and university Faculty Teacher of the Year Awards and the 2016 American Society of Criminology, Division of Victimology, Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, and 2017 American Society of Criminology, Division of Critical Criminology and Social Justice Teacher of the Year Award. Catherine D. Marcum, Ph.D., graduated from Indiana University in Pennsylvania in 2008 with a Ph.D. in criminology. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed journals articles and authored and/or edited over 10 books. Her areas of expertise include cybercrime offending and victimization, correctional issues, and sexual victimization. She is currently the assistant chair of her department, and the editor of Corrections: Policy, Practice, and Research. Jordana Navarro, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of criminal justice at The Citadel. She received her bachelor's degree in political science, master's degree in criminal justice, and doctorate in sociology from the University of Central Florida. She has authored and co-authored a plethora of journal articles and book chapters on cybercrime, geographic information systems, victimology, and sexual violence. Other Cognella titles by Catherine D. Marcum: Teaching Introduction to Policing (First Edition) A Guide to Graduate School Success for Criminal Justice, Public Safety, and Administration of Justice Students (First Edition)

Introduction to Criminology, Why Do They Do It?, Second Edition, by Pamela J. Schram Stephen G. Tibbetts, offers a contemporary and integrated discussion of the key theories that help us understand crime in the 21st century. With a focus on why offenders commit crimes, this bestseller skillfully engages students with real-world cases and examples to help students explore the fundamentals of criminology. To better align with how instructors actually teach this course, coverage of violent and property crimes has been integrated into the theory chapters, so students can clearly understand the application of theory to criminal behavior. Unlike other introductory criminology textbooks, the Second Edition discusses issues of diversity in each chapter and covers many contemporary topics that are not well represented in other texts, such as feminist criminology, cybercrime, hate crimes, white-collar crime, homeland security, and identity theft. Transnational comparisons regarding crime rates and the methods other countries use to deal with crime make this edition the most universal to date and a perfect companion for those wanting to learn about criminology in context.

Teaching about gender, race, social class and sexuality in criminal justice and criminology classrooms can be challenging. Professors may face resistance when they ask students to examine how gender impacts victimization, how race affects interactions with the police, how socioeconomic status shapes experiences in court or how sexuality influences treatment in the criminal justice system. Teaching Criminology at the Intersection is an instructional guide to support faculty as they navigate teaching these topics. Bringing together the experience and knowledge of expert scholars, this book provides time-strapped academics with an accessible how-to guide for the classroom, where the dynamics and discrimination of gender, race, class and sexuality demographics intersect and permeate criminal justice concerns. In the book, the authors of each chapter discuss how they teach a particular contemporary criminal justice issue and provide their suggestions for best practice, while grounding their ideas in pedagogical theory. Chapters end with a toolkit of recommended activities, assignments, films, readings or websites. As a teaching handbook, Teaching Criminology at the Intersection is appropriate reading for graduate level criminology, criminal justice and women’s and gender studies teaching instruction courses and as background reading and reference for instructors in these disciplines.

Comprehensive and accessible, Tim Newburn’s bestselling Criminology provides an introduction to the fundamental themes, concepts, theories, methods and events that underpin the subject and form the basis for all undergraduate degree courses and modules in Criminology and Criminal Justice. This third edition includes: A new chapter on politics, reflecting the ever increasing coverage of political influence and decision making on criminology courses New and updated crime data and analysis of trends, plus new content on recent events such as the Volkswagen scandal, the latest developments on historic child abuse, as well as extended coverage throughout of the English riots A fully revised and updated companion website, including exam, review and multiple choice questions, a live Twitter feed from the author providing links to media and academic coverage of events related to the concepts covered in the book, together with links to a dedicated textbook Facebook page Fully updated to reflect recent developments in the field and extensively illustrated, this authoritative text, written by a leading criminologist and experienced lecturer, is essential reading for all students of Criminology and related fields.

Designed for undergraduate criminology and criminological theory courses, Criminological Theories: Understanding Crime in America, Second Edition explores crime, crime theory, and various forms of criminal behavior within the United States. It focuses exclusively on theory, avoiding superfluous discussion of the criminal justice system. Students will come away from the text with plausible explanations of crime causation, a greater appreciation of criminological theory, and the ability to think critically about the social reality of crime. Current and highly relevant, the text includes coverage of new developments in the field of criminology, including cultural, integrative, life-course, and green criminological theories.

As an experienced teacher of criminological theory at graduate and undergraduate levels, Imogene Moyer grew increasingly dissatisfied with the somewhat narrow focus of the books available. In her new text, Moyer has succeeded in presenting instructors and students with a comprehensive and engaging alternative. Moyer takes a multidimensional approach to the subject by including "new" theorists such as W.E.B. DuBois, Pauline Tarnowsky, Frank Tannenbaum, Ruth Shonle Cavan, and Sally Simpson, often allowing the theorists′ original source material to speak for them. Chapters are devoted to recently developed perspectives, particularly from women and people of color, which provide readers with a broader understanding of crime and criminal behavior. Criminological Theories is organized in a chronological order, beginning with the 18th century classical school 3⁄4 focusing on Beccaria and Bentham 3⁄4 and ending with the late 20th-century peacemaking perspective. In each chapter Moyer analyzes the assumptions the theorists have made about people and society and includes discussions of the cultural and historical settings in which the theories were developed, along with biographies of specific theorists and their lifetime contributions. The theme of the interrelationship theory, research, and policy runs throughout the book, with policy implications and applications frequently addressed. While it is not essential for all scholars to agree on a particular theory′s value, Imogene Moyer has provided the background and insights necessary to understand and appreciate the diverse and valuable theoretical viewpoints that have contributed to criminology today.

The Essentials of Criminology: A Student-Oriented Approach to Teaching Crime Theory is a readable, relevant overview of criminological theories and their use in understanding, explaining, and responding to crime. It provides foundational knowledge and engages students through real-life examples and scenarios. In contrast to many standard textbooks which tend to overwhelm both instructors and students with dozens of theories, The Essentials of Criminology focuses on select theories, exploring them in depth. Principal categories of theory covered in the text include: Neo-Classical Theories (Crime as a Choice) Structure Theories (Crime as a result of Societal Environment, Values, Stressors, and Subculture) Process Theories (Crime as a result of Individual Learning, Associations, and Social/Self Control) Conflict Theories (Crime as a result of the Unequal Distribution of Power) Developmental Theories (Crime as a Career) The book also examines how drug use, abuse, and addiction are entwined in criminal behavior. Summaries throughout the text provide quick reference and aid retention. Recommended assignments give students the opportunity to apply what they have learned through independent academic research, critiques, and projects and presentations. The Essentials of Criminology is written for one-semester courses in criminology, criminal justice, and applied crime theory, and designed so that all the material in the text can be adequately and thoughtfully covered.

Essentials of Criminology: A Student-Oriented Approach to Teaching Crime Theory is an accessible, relevant overview of criminological theories and their use in understanding, explaining, and responding to crime. The text provides foundational knowledge, engages students through real-life examples and scenarios, and focuses on select theories, exploring them in depth. The principal types of theory explored throughout the text include neo-classical theories (crime as a choice), structure theories (crime as a result of social environment, values, stressors, and subculture), process theories (crime as the result of individual learning, associations, and social/self-control), conflict theories (crime as a result of the unequal distribution of power), and developmental theories (crime as a career). The relationship between drugs and crime in society is also explored. The second edition of the text features an expansion of core criminal justice concepts, updated statistical data, and additional examples, activities, and assignments, which tackle relevant social issues including police-community relations, immigration policy, sexual misconduct, mass shootings, and gun control. The Essentials of Criminology is written for one-semester courses in criminology, criminal justice, and applied crime theory, and designed so that all the material in the text can be adequately and thoughtfully covered.

This volume marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Travis Hirschi’s seminal work Causes of Delinquency. The influence of Hirschi’s book, and the theory of social control it described, can scarcely be overstated. Social control theory has been empirically tested or commented on by hundreds of scholars and is generally regarded as one of the three dominant theories of crime. The current work highlights the impact that social control theory has had on criminological theory and research to date. Agnew’s contribution highlights the role that Hirschi’s tests of control versus strain theory had in contributing to the "near demise" of classic strain theories, and to the subsequent development of general strain theory. Serrano-Maillo relates control to drift, and Tedor and Hope compare the human nature assumptions of control theory to the current psychological literature. Other contributions return to Hirschi’s original Richmond Youth Survey (RYS) data and demonstrate the robustness of Hirschi’s major findings. Costello and Anderson find strong support for Hirschi’s predictions in an analysis of a diverse group of youths in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1999; Nofziger similarly finds support for Hirschi’s predictions with an analysis of the girls in the RYS, and explores the criticisms of social control theory that were the result of Hirschi’s failure to analyze the data from the girls in the sample. Kempf-Leonard revisits her seminal 1993 survey of control theory and reviews the current empirical status of control theory. Other contributions explore new directions for both social control theory and self-control theory. The contribution by Cullen, Lee, and Butler holds that one element of the social bond, commitment, was under-theorized by Hirschi, and the authors present a more in-depth development of the concept. Quist explores the possibility of expanding social control theory to explicitly incorporate exchange theory concepts; Ueda and Tsutomi apply control theory cross-culturally to a sample of Japanese students; and Felson uses control theory to organize criminological ideas. Vazsonyi and Javakhishvili’s contribution is an empirical analysis of the connections between social control in early childhood and self-control later in life; Chapple and McQuillan’s contribution suggests that the gender gap in delinquency is better explained by increased controls in girls than by gendered pathways to offending. Oleson traces the evolution of Hirschi’s control theory, and suggests that, given the relationships between fact and theory, a biosocial model of control might be a promising line of inquiry. Fifty Years of Causes of Delinquency: The Criminology of Travis Hirschi describes the current state of control theory and suggests its future directions, as well as demonstrates its enduring importance for criminological theory and research. The volume will be of interest to scholars working in the control theory tradition as well as those critical of the perspective, and is suitable for use in graduate courses in criminological theory.

Designed for upper-level senior and graduate criminological theory courses, this text thoroughly examines the ideas and assumptions underlying each major theoretical perspective in criminology. It lays bare theorists' ideas about human nature, social structure, social order, concepts of law, crime and criminals, the logic of crime causation and the policies and criminal justice practices that follow from these premises. The book provides students with a clear critical, analytic overview of criminological theory that enable enformed evaluative comparisons among different theorists.