Gender, Crime and Justice
SOC 303
M/W 2:50 to 4:10 pm
Instructor: Michelle Meloy,
Ph.D.
Phone: (856) 225-2724
Office location: Sociology Building @ 405-407 Cooper Steet; Suite 205
Office Hrs: Wednesday 10:00 to 11:00 am and by
appointment
E-mail: mlmeloy@rutgers.edu
The Invisible Woman by Joanne Belknap
Rethinking Gender, Crime and
Justice edited by
Renzetti, Goodstein & Miller
Lucky by Sebold
The bulk of what is known about
crime, victimization, criminal justice processing and criminal justice
occupations are defined by male experiences. Yet,
it is impossible to fully understand criminal behavior and how the
system operates without controlling for the impact of the social
constructs of gender,
race, class, and sexuality. Thus, in an attempt to broaden our
understanding of these issues we incorporate these factors in our
analysis of criminality, victimization risk factors and consequences,
as
well as the historical evolution and contemporary status of women,
people of color, and sexual minorities who work in law enforcement, the
courts, and corrections.
EXAMINATIONS
There will be three examinations in this course. Exams are designed to test your understanding of the discussions, readings, and supplemental material. Exams may consist of multiple choice, true & false, short answers, and/or essay questions. No make up examinations will be permitted unless an emergency situation exists. Situations that qualify as an emergency are dictated by Rutgers University standards and must be accompanied by appropriate documentation. The format of make up exams may vary at the discretion of the instructor. Exam variations include the possibility of an oral or essay format. Exam grades will be computed as follows: 90-100% = A; 89-85% = B+; 84-80=B; 79-75% = C+; 74-70%= C; 60-69% = D. 59% and lower, is failing.
GRADING AND REACTION PAPERS
Each exam in this course is worth 25% of your cumulative points for a total of 75% of your final course grade. Each reaction paper is worth 10% of your cumulative points for a total of 20% of your final course grade. These exercises require students to think critically about current events while making associations and correlations with course material. In addition to providing you with a forum to express your views and opinions about issues relevant to the course, it provides an opportunity to rectify any confusion you may have on course material. Reaction papers also let me how you are doing at keeping pace with the assigned readings. There will be no make up reaction papers and late reaction papers will not be accepted.
Exam I = 25%
Mid-Term Exam = 25%
Final Exam = 25%
Reaction paper = 20%
Participation= 5%
Under
no circumstances will academic dishonesty be tolerated.
Academic
dishonesty
includes cheating on exams, helping another cheat in any way or taking
someone else's work and representing it as your own original
work. Plagiarism
(stealing someone else's work and representing
it as your own) is a common form of academic dishonesty and comes in
many forms. For instance, purchasing
or using a term paper that someone else wrote and representing it
as your own work or 'clipping and
pasting'
information from another source without using proper citations and/or
quotations constitutes plagiarism. Recently,
plagiarism
from the Internet has become an increasing problem. Every
semester
students are in violation of the academic dishonesty standards set
forth in the Rutgers University handbook, and reiterated on the
sociology
home page http://sociology.camden.rutgers.edu.
All violations of academic dishonesty will immediately be referred to
Rutgers
University officials. Sanctions range from failing the course to
expulsion.
APPROPRIATE
CLASSROOM CONDUCT
This is a general outline and is
subject to change based on the discretion
of the instructor. You are responsible for mastering the material
contained in the assigned readings whether or not they are explicitly
discussed
in class. This is an upper-level undergraduate course and I
expect you to act accordingly. The assigned readings must be
completed prior to each class session.
Week 1 : Introduction to Class
Course
Introduction
Belknap, Ch.1
Week 2: Gender & Criminological Theories
Belknap,
Ch.2
R,G & M: Ch.1 & 2
Week 3: Race, Ethnicity & Crime
R,G & M: Chs. 3 & 13Week 4: The criminality of women & girls
Belknap: Ch.3
R,G & M: Ch. 6 & 8
click here for
notes
Reaction paper assignment # 1 due
Week 8: Sexual violence,
gendered victimizations continued
R, G & M: Ch.7 &
Ch.11
click here for reaction paper
assignment #2 on Lucky