What is Criminology and Law Studies?

Criminology is the study of crimes, criminals, crime victims, theories explaining illegal and/or deviant behavior, the social reaction to crime, and the effectiveness of crime control policies. Law Studies is an interdisciplinary field that engages the meanings, values, practices, and institutions of law and legality. The Law Studies discipline examines how law shapes and is shaped by political, economic, and cultural forces. In Criminology and Law Studies, we investigate the interaction between phenomena of crime and law. We also look into how police, courts and the corrections system work, as well as why the criminal justice system works the way it does.

Upon completion of the Criminology and Law Studies major, a student should be able to:

• Understand and critically analyze criminological and socio-legal concepts and theories
• Understand and critically analyze issues of crime prevention, crime enforcement, and the resolution of criminal cases
• Use an appropriate empirical research method to describe and understand a social issue
• Recognize and analyze ethical dilemmas and issues of diversity, broadly defined in the criminal justice and legal systems

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