Violence in America
44.624

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Course Syllabus

 

University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Violence in America: 44.624

 

Professor: James Byrne, Ph. D.

 Related Violence Course Website: http://faculty.uml.edu/jbyrne/44.624

Time: class meets on Tuesdays, 4:30-6:50pm

Special Features: this course involves readings from both text and web-based sources

On Campus Office: Mahoney 200A

On Campus Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-4 pm, by appointment

Email: profbyrne@hotmail.com

Phone: (978) 934-3992


Course Description: The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth analysis of the causes, context, and control of a wide range of violent crimes. Topics covered in this class include: Murder, rape, robbery, assault, and violence in the helping professions, violence in the workplace, violence in school, gang violence, cult violence, and institutional violence. For each form of violence, we examine issues related to(1) the extent of the problem, characteristics of the crime, victim, and offender, (2) causation, (3) crime  prevention, and (4)crime control strategies.

Required Reading:

  1. Reidel, Marc, and Wayne Welch (2007). Criminal Violence: Patterns, Causes, and Prevention (Los Angeles: Roxbury).
  2. DeLisi, Matt, and Peter Conis (2008) Violent Offenders: Theory, Research, Public Policy, and Practice (Boston: Jones and Bartlett).
  3. Weekly assignments for research and reading from selected weblinks(see weekly readings below)


Grading: Grades will be determined as follows:

  1. Midterm exam (25%)…exam posted week 5; due week 6
  2. Final exam (25%) …..exam posted week 10; due following week
  3. Term paper(10-15 pages) on selected topic area(20%)…due week 10
  4. Class preparation/participation and completion of five short (1- 2)questions for discussion  (30%)