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Justice & the Legal System

Degrees & Requirements

Minor Requirements

  • SOCI 102 Introduction to Inequality or for sociology majors one of the following: SOCI 241 Social Stratification or SOCI 270 Race and Ethnicity
  • POLS 117 Law and Society or POLS 103 Politics of the United States
  • SOCI 222 Criminology
  • POLS 217 Constitutional Interpretation or POLS 317 Civil Rights and Liberties
  • PSYC 321 Abnormal Psychology (Pre-requsisite: PSYC 102)
  • One course from the following:
    • GEOG 340 Geographic Information Systems
    • POLS 400 Moot Court
    • SOCI or POLS 470 Internship
    • Or elective chosen in consultation with advisor

Course Descriptions

SOCI 102: Introduction to Inequality

Introduction to the mechanisms through which inequality operates historically and today. Exploration of similarities and differences between and among forms of oppression and ways in which issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality intersect. Three semester hours.

SOCI 222: Criminology

Introduction to the study of crime, including its definition, measurement, and correlates. Examination of classical and contemporary theories of deviance and crime as well as the social responses to crime and their effects on offenders, victims, and society-at-large. Evaluation of commonly-used sources of crime statistics at the local, state, and federal levels.

SOCI 241: Social Stratification

Examines leading perspectives and theories in the field of social stratification with attention to issues of the distribution of income and wealth both nationally and globally. Other topics covered include class mobility, an exploration of the institutions through which class inequality and mobility are structured and reproduced such as the family, education, and the criminal justice system, and the role of political power in determining the distribution of resources.

SOCI 270: Race and Ethnicity

The study of race and ethnicity in defining peoples and cultures; in delineating boundaries of social interaction and discourse; in establishing enduring patterns of interpersonal and institutional discrimination, prejudice, and persecution; and in creating sectional and national conflict. The history of race and ethnicity in the United States and elsewhere, as well as current research on the biological and social bases of race and ethnicity.

POLS 103: Politics of the United States

The study of race and ethnicity in defining peoples and cultures; in delineating boundaries of social interaction and discourse; in establishing enduring patterns of interpersonal and institutional discrimination, prejudice, and persecution; and in creating sectional and national conflict. The history of race and ethnicity in the United States and elsewhere, as well as current research on the biological and social bases of race and ethnicity.

POLS 117: Law and Society

Contexts and range of tasks confronting modern societies in using the law as a special type of process that restores, maintains, or corrects the four basic functions of the law: resolution of disputes, facilitation and protection of voluntary arrangements, molding moral and legal conceptions of a society, and maintenance of historical continuity and consistency of doctrine.

POLS 217: Constitutional Interpretation

Introduction to the study of crime, including its definition, measurement, and correlates. Examination of classical and contemporary theories of deviance and crime as well as the social responses to crime and their effects on offenders, victims, and society-at-large. Evaluation of commonly-used sources of crime statistics at the local, state, and federal levels.

POLS 317: Civil Rights and Liberties

Role of the U.S. Supreme Court in using cases based on the Constitution to protect the rights of citizens from undue or prohibited interference with their protected liberties, including discussions of cases dealing with individual v. group rights, religious liberty, free expression, racial and gender discrimination, political participation, rights of the aged, immigrants, and the criminally accused.

POLS 400: Moot Court

Development of student skills in legal research, reasoning, argumentation, and writing. Team preparation of an appellate brief on a moot court case and appellate argument before a panel of faculty and visiting attorneys. Political Science 400 prerequisites: 117 and 217.

PSYC 321: Abnormal Psychology

Description and classification of patterns of deviant behavior, identification of their determinants, survey of procedures for modifying disorders.

GEOG 340: Geographic Information Systems

Introduction to geographic information systems with a focus on concepts, data management, and applications in geographic research, planning, business, and environmental studies. Use of ArcGIS software with both raster and vector data structures.

POLS 470 & SOCI 470: Internship

Work experience related to the student’s major, jointly supervised by the instructor and agency personnel. Although the usual internship will carry either three or six hours credit, a student may elect to arrange an internship carrying between two and six hours credit with the permission of the department. Each hour of credit will require forty hours at the internship site.