Program Overview

Criminology, Law and Society, B.A.

The major in Criminology, Law and Society is designed to provide students with an overview of the American legal system and in-depth focus on the regulation of behavior, the problem of crime, and responses to crime within this system. Students explore these topics through multiple disciplinary perspectives, including anthropological, economic, historical, political, and sociological approaches to the study of law, behavior, and institutions of social control.

Program Description

In addition to learning to apply social science techniques to analyzing social problems, students in this course of study will be especially well-prepared for careers in criminal justice and regulatory agencies, public policy organizations, and direct service provision to people involved with the legal system as well as for pursuing graduate studies in law, sociology, criminology, and criminal justice.

Requirements for the B.A. in Criminology, Law and Society

• All students must meet the University Requirements.
• All students must meet the School Requirements.
• Eleven courses (44 units) as specified below:
  • A. Complete one lower-division gateway course:
    • CRM/LAW C10 | Fundamentals of Criminology, Law and Society
  • B. Select one course from each of the following three groups:
    • (1) The Legal System, Law and Society
      • CRM/LAW C101 | American Law
      • CRM/LAW C102 | Introduction to the Comparative Study of Legal Cultures
      • CRM/LAW C103 | US Legal Thought
      • CRM/LAW C104 | Sociology of Law
      • CRM/LAW C105 | Psychology and the Law
      • CRM/LAW C111 | Theories of Punishment
      • CRM/LAW C112 | Legal Sanctions and Social Control
      • CRM/LAW C122 | Constitutional Law
      • CRM/LAW C123 | Family Law
      • CRM/LAW C141 | Anthropology of Law
      • CRM/LAW C143 | Introduction to the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution: Equal Protection and Due Process
      • CRM/LAW C144 | Criminal Law
      • CRM/LAW C165 | The Death Penalty
      • CRM/LAW C168 | Extreme Punishment
      • CRM/LAW C186 | Social Media and The Law
    • (2) Crime and Criminology
      • CRM/LAW C106 | Crime and Public Policy
      • CRM/LAW C107 | Deviance
      • CRM/LAW C108 | Criminological Theory
      • CRM/LAW C109 | Juvenile Delinquency
      • CRM/LAW C110 | Community Context of Crime
      • CRM/LAW C115 | Prisons, Punishment, and Corrections
      • CRM/LAW C117 | Imprisonment and Reentry
      • CRM/LAW C133 | Homicide and Suicide
      • CRM/LAW C139 | Police and Change
      • CRM/LAW C162 | Crime Hotspots
      • CRM/LAW C164 | Social Control of Delinquency
      • CRM/LAW C166 | Spatial Criminology
      • CRM/LAW C167 | Crime Measurement
    • (3) Justice and Inequalities
      • CRM/LAW C113 | Gender and Social Control
      • CRM/LAW C114 | Miscarriages of Justice
      • CRM/LAW C116 | Race, Ethnicity, and Social Control
      • CRM/LAW C120 | Law and Inequality
      • CRM/LAW C127 | Hate Crimes
      • CRM/LAW C135 | Mass Incarceration and Social Inequality in America
      • CRM/LAW C142 | White-Collar Crime
      • CRM/LAW C146 | Crimes of the State
      • CRM/LAW C174 | Immigration and Crime
      • CRM/LAW C178 | Critical Race Theory
      • CRM/LAW C179 | Race and Incarceration
  • C. Seven upper-division elective courses (28 units).
    • Select from courses numbered CRM/LAW C100C191.