CRJU 2200, Georgia State University | Last updated for Fall 2024
This document is a broad overview of Social Science & the American Crime Problem, as taught by Scott Jacques, at Georgia State University (GSU). The course illuminates the development, persistence, and change of social, historical, political, economic, and/or spatial patterns in the American crime problem, including control of it. Students annotate books on Perusall, and gain certificates from the COPS Training Portal. Thereby, they gain a comprehensive understanding of the course topic, focusing on issues such as sexual consent, prison history, police reform, workplace victimization, and border technology. The books and this Syllabus (i.e., the document you’re reading now) are open access. Perusall and the Portal are no-cost. By minimizing expense, we increase student success. By sharing materials openly, we facilitate their use and adaptation for the greater good. In addition to cost-reduction and open sharing, the course emphasizes Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILTed), especially clear and fair evaluation. After an introduction to the course, the rest of this document presents information on each book, the six of which we use to structure the course, prior to a conclusion module. This course syllabus includes the Appendix at the end.
To begin the course, familiarize yourself with this Syllabus (i.e., this document) and follow its instructions. This Syllabus is a general plan for the course, deviations may be necessary. The
Appendix
is part of this Syllabus. (Last updated August 5, 2024.)
An experimental chatbot for this syllabus is
here
. As with any AI, you cannot simply assume it’s giving you correct information. It’s your responsibility to check. In our case, “checking” involves confirming the chatbot’s answers by referring directly to this Syllabus and the Appendix.
CRJU 2200: SOCIAL SCIENCE & THE AMERICAN CRIME PROBLEM | ||
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This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area. | ||
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. | ||
This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals. | ||
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question: | ||
• How do I understand human experiences and connections? | ||
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes: | ||
• Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social, or geographic relationships develop, persist, or change. | ||
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies: | ||
• Intercultural Competence | • Perspective-Taking | • Persuasion |
Department of Criminology, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University
CRN 82069, Fall 2024, Online Asynchronous
Scott Jacques, [email protected], not [email protected]
This course provides a broad theoretical and empirical overview of the American crime problem (“ACP”). Exploring crime from a social science perspective, the course develops a survey understanding of how the patterned influence of social institutions (family, government, schools), subcultures, and the psychology of everyday life come together to shape how society defines, organizes, and responds to crime.
After finishing this course, you should be able to:
Define and identify types of the ACP.
Distinguish between aspects of the ACP.
Analyze the causes and consequences of the ACP, its types, and aspects.
Critically evaluate theory, research, and policy on social scientific factors affecting crime and control.
Obtain COPS certifications in various topics related to crime and control.
Direct their own learning by managing your time, motivating yourself, and engaging independently.
Discover and act on their own curiosity by exploring topics in depth and connecting course topics to your own interests and goals.
This course is taught by several instructors at GSU, all of whom put their own spin on it. The version before you is mine. It aims to be one big open educational resource (OER): a package of learning materials that are “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.”1 The goals are to increase, one, student success by removing a cost-barrier to knowledge and, two, the course’s impact by enabling other instructors to use and adapt it. What parts of this course are OER? This Syllabus and the six books that serve as our “readings.” Here, they’re listed in the order they’re used in this course:
Popova, Milena. 2019. Sexual Consent. MIT Press.
Benson, Sara. 2019. The Prison of Democracy. University of California Press.
Worden, Robert, and Sarah McLean. 2017. Mirage of Police Reform. University of California Press.
Gleeson, Shannon. 2016. Precarious Claims. University of California Press.
Dijstelbloem, Huub. 2021. Borders as Infrastructure. MIT Press.
Baldwin, Peter. 2021. Command and Persuade. MIT Press.
To be clear, you do NOT need to buy the books. I already uploaded them in Perusall (see below).
I’ve uploaded our readings to Perusall, a platform to “Amplify student engagement, collaboration, and community with the social annotation platform that works with all types of content, including books.” Though it’s not OER per se, it’s free for students and instructors to use. The Appendix has help-resources to get you started with Persuall.
In addition to books on Persuall, our materials include COPS Training Courses. Created by The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), it’s part of the US Department of Justice. Their trainings are a no-cost means for law enforcement officials and community partners to upskill in public safety and community policing. Here are the trainings for this course, all of which are accessible on the COPS Training Portal.
Contemporary Approaches for Responding Effectively to Community-Defined Disorder
Expert Insights: Testifying in Court as a Drug Recognition Expert
This course emphasizes reading-and-writing with two activities: Annotation and Certification. Think of Annotation as our “book club.” The positive effects are seen in The Maximum Security Book Club, The Prison Book Club, and The Soul Knows No Bars, for example. By participating in our book club,2 you’ll know more about and better understand social science and the ACP. This’ll generally improve your vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. You’ll become a better (critical) thinker, writer, and communicator. You’ll develop intercultural competence, perspective-taking, and persuasion to better understand human experiences and connections.
This course also emphasizes real-world preparation with certification. You will complete 7 COPS courses to earn their corresponding certificates. Think of this activity as throwing one stone to hit two birds: By gaining the certificates, you’ll improve your expertise and resume, opening doors to educational and career paths while earning course-credit.
Those activities are performed and evaluated (i.e., graded) as part of two assignment-types:
For each Annotation, you’ll focus on a reading, either this Syllabus or one of the 6 books (see Materials). Thus, there’s a total of 7 Annotations. With this assignment, I force your attention to aspects of the course-topic (social science and the ACP) that I want you to know (i.e., the readings’ lessons); but you choose which subaspects to focus on based on your interests (e.g., one chapter- or section-topic vs. another).
For each “Certification,” you’ll focus on a COPS Training Course. There’s a total of 7 Certifications, one per Modules 0-6. With this assignment, I incorporate government-trainings on the course-topic (social science and the ACP), that produce valuable outcomes for your resume (the certificates), because they provide useful information and knowledge (the Training Courses).
Your final grade is calculated thusly:
Annotation: 65% of final grade; each is worth ~9.29%.
Certification: 30% of final grade; each is worth 5%.
The Appendix has more information on grading.
In addition to OER, this course emphasizes Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILTed)…
Annotation-work is scored through the Perusall algorithm based on predetermined scoring metrics and points, as shown below. Using this tool ensures that all students are objectively evaluated based on the same standards. Your “credit” is determined on an all-or-none basis, meaning you will either receive full points or no points for each assignment.
You will receive full credit—in Perusall and automatically synced with iCollege—once you reach or exceed 100% on an assignment, as auto-graded by Perusall. Until you reach 100%, your score will be a 0 in Perusall and in iCollege; no partial credit is given. It is possible to reach 120% because the scoring metrics add up to this amount; see the following table. This gives you some discretion in where to focus your efforts and leeway in completion.
There are no “right” or “wrong” answers, though they should be informed by the readings. The only rules are you must (1) seriously interact with the readings and your peers, (2) not quote, but rather always use your own words, and (3) behave with academic integrity. Breaking a rule is punished with a score of zero on the assignment, and, for the third rule, possibly other sanctions; for details, see “Academic Integrity” in the Appendix.
Metric in Perusall | Points Possible | How to Earn Points and Full-Credit on Annotation |
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“Content” | 60 | Submit 25 high-quality comments on the book |
“Active Engagement Time” | 60 | Spend 4 hours actively engaging with the book |
“Total” | 120 | Reach 100 points or more |
Certification-work is more straightforward. You’re scored manually based on whether you (1) successfully finish the assigned COPS course, (2) thereby receive the certificate, (3) and, finally, upload it to the assignment-folder in iCollege. Grades are assigned as pass (100%) or fail (0%). To complete this work each Module, it’ll take you about 4 hours. However, to be clear, the amount of time spent isn’t graded.
You must always access Perusall assignments via their respective links on our iCollege Content page. Otherwise, your grades won’t transfer automatically and that’s bad for your grade.
There are eight modules (sections) in this course, starting with Module 0 and ending with Module 7. Module 0 is introductory. Module 7 is a single week for make-up work. Between those, Modules 0-6 are two weeks each, with work due on their last-Friday at 5 pm. This table lists the course’s modules (0-7) with their respective pattern of emphasis, timing, assignments, and readings. Module to module, we have the same sequence of activities: read; as you go, do Annotation; after, complete the Certification. The work is consistent so you can focus on the lessons.
To be clear, there are no tests, large exams, or final projects. Rather, your performance is evaluated throughout the semester. This means you can provide a reasonable, steady level of effort. The workload is manageable if you budget your time well. Everyone processes information at different speeds, so you will have to figure out for yourself how much time it takes. As a general rule, a 3 credit hour course should require 7-8 hours of work per week (in a fall/spring semester).
Module (Weeks in semester) Pattern of Emphasis | Annotation (Complete on Persuall, grade auto-syncs with iCollege) | Certification (Complete on COPS Training Portal, submit on iCollege) |
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0 (W1-2) None | This Syllabus | Preventing Problems by Promoting Positive Practices |
1 (W3-4) Social | Sexual Consent | Contemporary Approaches for Responding Effectively to Community-Defined Disorder |
2 (W5-6) Historical | Prison of Democracy | Ethical Decision Making: Policing with Principled Insight |
3 (W7-8) Political | Mirage of Police Reform | New Perspectives on Community Policing |
4 (W9-10) Economic | Precarious Claims | Expert Insights: Testifying in Court as a Drug Recognition Expert |
5 (W11-12) Spatial | Borders as Infrastructure | Crime Reduction: Enforcement and Prevention Strategies |
6 (W13-14) All | Command and Persuade | Problem-Oriented Policing: The SARA Model |
7 (W15) None | Make-up | Make-up |
The first two weeks of the semester are for Module 0. The objective is to familiarize you with the course structure, activities, learning platform Perusall, and COPS Training Courses.3 This work is graded and due at the module’s end; refer to the Course Outline for the exact date. There is one reading in Module 0: this Syllabus (i.e., the one you’re reading now) including its Appendix. You’ll annotate it and, after, complete your first Certification. Once you’re ready, complete the assignments in this order by following these steps:
Assignment | 1) Where to start | 2) What work to do | 3) How to get full-credit |
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1) “Annotation 0 - Syllabus” | Click the associated link on our iCollege Content page | Reread and annotate in Perusall | Fulfill scoring criteria for Annotation-work |
2) “Certification 0 - Preventing Problems by Promoting Positive Practices” | Same as above | Finish COPS course on its website | Upload Certificate in iCollege |
There’s no new work in the last section, Module 7. You have until its end to earn full credit on earlier assignments that are incomplete.
In Modules 1-6, you’ll annotate books and complete COPS Training Courses. The objective is to fulfill the Course Goals, above. This work is graded and due at each module’s end; refer to the Course Outline for exact dates. In each Module, 1-6, there’s a single document to annotate: the book. Each book is its own document in Perusall. You’ll annotate each document and, in turn, complete the Module’s Certification. When you’re ready to start any of Modules 1-6, complete the same steps above: in iCollege, open the Annotation, which’ll bring you to Persuall, where you write comments and actively engage with the book; once finished, start the COPS Training Course to earn the certificate, which you upload in its iCollege assignment-folder.
Ideally, if you were to evenly space-out a module’s work over its two-week period, you’d do something like:
Early in the first week, read and form your thoughts on the reading; in Perusall, refer to the instructions for “critical reading questions.”
In the first and second weeks, annotate the reading; in Perusall, refer to the instructions for “annotation themes.”
In the second week, reply to classmates to discuss the reading; refer to the instructions for “discussion themes.”
Any time before the deadline, begin the COPS Training Course to gain the certificate and submit it on iCollege.
Because this course is part of the “Core IMPACTS” program, Modules 1-5 emphasize a different pattern: social, historical, political, economic, or spatial. Module 6 brings them together. You’ll analyze how these factors (“variables”) affect, and get affected by, aspects of the ACP. Further details, including module-specific learning outcomes, are in this final table.
Module) Reading title |
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Why this book
Pay special attention Learning objectives |
Note: The above format/pattern is used below. |
0) Syllabus |
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To get practice with the platform, and get a stronger sense of this course, your first Annotation is of this Syllabus (i.e., the document you’re reading now). More details are at this document’s end. |
1 ) Sexual Consent |
We begin the course with Sexual Consent, by Milena Popova. This may seem like a strange selection, so let us tell you the backstory. In an earlier version of this course, there was a module on "Sex," with books about rape, pedophiles, sex trafficking, and prostitution. It was the fourth book, to be exact. When the time came, students emailed me to say they had been sexually assaulted in the past, explaining how this affected them and their ability to study. Obviously this is heartbreaking. A big part of the ACP is sexual assault. Among college students, it probably causes more harm than any other offense. It is hard to know because, understandably, many victims are reluctant to talk about it. So when I saw Sexual Consent is open access, I decided to assign it from the start so the lessons can be used ASAP.
While reading, pay special attention to social patterns in sexual assault and its control, especially how those patterns develop, persist, and change. Think about how and why social factors (e.g., cultures, institutions) are evident in the motives, processes, and consequences of sexual assault. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of sexual assault. 2) Identify different types of sexual assault. 3) Identify different types of control as relates to sexual assault. 4) Analyze social patterns in sexual assault. 5) Analyze social patterns in the control of sexual assault. |
2) Prison of Democracy |
The next book is Sara Benson's The Prison of Democracy: Race, Leavenworth, and the Culture of Law. The first selection (Sexual Assault) shows the ACP is not a distant phenomenon, but in our homes and on our college campuses. With the second book, we go the opposite direction: back in time more than a hundred years, to a very different type of campus: that of a prison, namely Leavenworth Penitentiary on the Kansas/Missouri border. We must know history to understand the present and predict or improve the future. From a social science perspective, the “beauty” of a prison is it makes control so visible. The layout of a prison is not random but, instead, reflects the societies in which they are constructed. Different times and places have varying views of crime and punishment, criminals and governments. As they change, they qualitatively reshape prison; altering its purpose, administration, and architecture of prison. Likewise, socio-historical changes affect the quantity of control, such as the number of prisons and prisoners. As you may know, the United States has the highest imprisonment rate of any country in the world. It has not always been like that.
While reading, pay special attention to historical patterns in prison, especially how those patterns develop, persist, and change. Think about how and why temporal eras (i.e., chronological event spans, or years, distinguished by their events etc.) of prison design—purpose, administration, and architecture—are similar, different, why, and to what effect. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of prison. 2) Identify different types of prison. 3) Analyze the causes and consequences of prison. 4) Explain and evaluate links between prison’s various purposes, administrative models, and architectural designs. |
3) Mirage of Police Reform |
Our third book is Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean's Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy. Police bring offenders (e.g., people who commit sexual assault) to the court system, which sends them to prison, among other destinations. Police departments and officers have the power to police, you could say. Like prison, police have varying purposes, practices, and technologies (architectural and otherwise). At present, in historical perspective, the police have more power than ever. The public grants this power for its own protection. But "the public" is made up of many populations. Serving them, in toto and as segments, is a matter of politics and public affairs. Ideally, everyone finds themselves in a win-win position, but competing interests and zero-sum games are the reality of governance. “To protect and serve” is easier said than done, especially as the lines between “good guy” and “bad guy” dissipate. Some policing measures do more harm than good, despite the best intentions of police and the public that empowers them.
While reading, pay special attention to political patterns in police/ing and authority more broadly, especially how those patterns develop, persist, and change. Think about how, why, and to what effect police/ing are shaped by shared and competing interests in government and public affairs. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of authority and police. 2) Identify different relationships between authority and policing. 3) Analyze the causes and consequences of police. 4) Explain and evaluate the reciprocal effects of authority and police. |
4) Precarious Claims |
With Shannon Gleeson's book, Precarious Claims: The Promise and Failure of Workplace Protections in the United States, we bring the course back to another “everyday” problem that receives less attention, and less control, than it deserves: employers victimizing their employees. Like sexual assault, work victimization is not always recognized as criminal. Despite causing substantial harm, work victimization gets perceived as “less serious” than stereotyped versions of robbery and burglary, for instance. This is generally true of “white collar crime”: that is nonviolent, financially motivated, and occurs in the context of legal business. Workers and companies are in conflict, just ask Karl Marx. Companies reap a bigger profit when they pay workers less. They save money by putting workers in harm’s way; by refusing to acknowledge wrongdoing; and, by minimizing financial compensation for victims. When something goes wrong on the job, what do employees do?
While reading, pay special attention to economic patterns in workplace victimization, protection, and legal remedies, especially how those patterns develop, persist, and change. Think about how and why those behaviors are shaped by the financial benefits/rewards and costs/risks for companies, workers, and others. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of workplace victimization. 2) Identify different types of workplace victimization. 3) Analyze the causes and consequences of workplace victimization. 4) Explain and evaluate different efforts to prevent and remedy workplace victimization. |
5) Borders as Infrastructure |
In this fifth module, we gain international perspective with Huub Dijstelbloem's Borders as Infrastructure: The Technopolitics of Border Control. By definition, action is international when it occurs across countries, the realm of political geography. A border is an imaginary line in space, separating one sovereign territory from another. Border control amounts to letting the "right people" across the line, in either direction; stopping the rest; and, protecting everyone but, in reality, some people more than others. To the extent that nations work together in border control, they engage in international cooperation; against each other, international competition. Nations come into cooperation and competition for many reasons. Enemies can become bedfellows; neighbors into combatants. All of this has been complicated--in some ways improved, in others damaged--by technological revolutions, the most recent due to computers and the internet, which eviscerated physical borders with digital bridges, but that also give powerful new tools to those who control "our" borders. How and why are borders put up and maintained, taken down and evaded? (Ideally, we would read a book that more so puts the United States centerstage, but such a book has not been written, or at least not published open access.)
While reading, pay special attention to spatial patterns in border control, especially how those patterns develop, persist, and change. Think about how and why the geography of nations and people, crime and security affect who is allowed where, and how that is enforced. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of border control. 2) Identify different types of border control. 3) Analyze the causes and consequences of border control. 4) Explain and evaluate different efforts to control borders. |
6) Command and Persuade |
Our final book is Command and Persuade: Crime, Law, and the State across History, by Peter Baldwin. This section culminates our exploration of analog crime and control. We started with sexual consent/assault, then went to imprisonment, policing, workplace victimization, and border control. This last book is more sweeping, intended as a general treatment of crime and control. Likewise, I want you to approach this book by "zooming out." Think "big ideas." Try to see what makes humans the same, and what divides us. These differences and similarities are social, historical, political, economical, and spatial. How are they generally patterned with crime and control? How have these patterns developed, persisted, and changed?
In each of the previous modules, you were asked to pay special attention to patterns that are either social, historical, political, economic, or spatial. While reading this section, pay extra thought into their patterned connections, including how they develop, persist, and change. For example, what are the social features of different historic eras in crime and control? How do economic power and political power shape the spatial distribution of crime and control? Try to see the biggest picture possible, drawing lines between multiple spheres to see how they work together, or fail to work together, to control crime. After completing this module’s learning activities, you should be able to: 1) Define the features of crime and a state. 2) Identify different relationships between crime and a state. 3) Analyze the consequences of state power for crime and control. 4) Analyze the patterns between state power, crime, and factors that are social, historical, political, economic, and spatial. |
7) Conclusion |
No work due. In Perusall, you have until the end of Module 7 at 5 p.m. to earn full credit on earlier assignments. For when you reach the end, I’ll say in advance: Congratulations on completing the course. I hope you learned a lot. Crime is everywhere; always has been. Crime and control in the United States is unique, but shares a lot in common with other countries, past and present. Protect yourself out there: not just in the streets, but also on the information superhighway. Speaking of which, you should consider taking the Digital Crime Problem (CRJU 3405), or even completing the Digital Criminology Minor. Your constructive assessment of this course plays an indispensable role in shaping education at Georgia State University. After completing the course, please do the online course evaluation. Please be respectful when filling out your evaluation, as they really do matter and are read by many people. Thinking about your life after this semester, I hope you will consider joining another book club or starting your own. There are plenty of guides, my favorite being this one.4 |
After you finish the Appendix, refer back to the instructions in the subsection, Module 0, under Course Outline. That’s where you’ll see what (graded) work to do, by when. And oh, Module 0’s scoring metrics are the same as those used for the books, but you do less: on Persuall for Annotation, do 30 minutes for active engagement time (not 4 hours) and 5 high quality comments (instead of 25); for the Certification, your COPS Training Course is only 1 hour (not 4 hours).
The Syllabus continues with this Appendix…