2019-2020 Graduate Catalog 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2019-2020 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

CRJU 0622 - Sex Offenders and Public Policy


Credits: 3

This is a Corrections-based course that will provided a historical and behavioral science context for evaluating the effectiveness of policies and practices regarding sexual offenders. This course will examine the difficulties in clearly defining what constitutes a sexual offense, and how notions of what is aberrant of criminal change over time and place. It will review the major types of sex offenses coming to the attention of the sentencing courts, and the distinctions made concerning risk of future harm and blameworthiness. Given what they have learned about the psychological, social, and political dynamics surrounding this contentious issue, students will critically examine how well sex offender policies meet all of our sentencing goals, including retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation, but also rehabilitation and reintegration.