This course will provide a broad overview of the sociology of murder- the intentional, malicious killing of one human by another. This course will go beyond what we see about murder regularly in the media and on popular TV shows and movies. Students will be exposed to a scientific study of homicide. Key topics include the history and laws of murder; information and data sources on murder; demographic attributes of victims and offenders; different types of murder, including among others domestic, serial, mass, and gang-related murder; biological, sociological and psychological theories of the causes of murder; and the strategies involved in the criminal investigation of homicide.
prereq: jr, or sr, or grad student, or instr consent; soc majors/minors must register A-F