Gangs, Drugs, and Violence Criminal Justice 491

The objective of the course is to investigate whether post-industrial gangs differ in important respects from industrial era gangs. There will be no exams, but each student will make a presentation on a topic listed below and write a substantial paper on the topic.

Required Texts for CJ 491

Hagedorn, John M. People & Folks: Gangs Crime and the Underclass In a Rustbelt City, 2nd Edition. Chicago. Lake View Press 1998

Moore, Joan W. Going Down to the Barrio. Homeboys and Homegirls in Change. Philadelphia. Temple Univesity Press. 1991  

Akers, Ronald L. Criminological Theories: Introduction and Evaluation. Los Angeles: Roxbury

Readings (to be available at Bookstore)

  Week #1: Monday August 25 Introduction to the course: Objective: to evaluate whether gangs in the post-industrial era are fundamtnally different than gangs in the industrial era. Integrate female gangs in every section.

1. Gangs: Run the numbers.2. Organization: structure, how do gangs get organized, migration and stuff. 3. Female gangs/Gender and gangs 4. Ethnicity and Gangs. 5. Subculture, Gang culture and American culture 6. Gang Violence 7. Drugs and gangs 8. Prisons and Gangs 9. Public Policy, the War on Drugs, the media, and all that 10. Family and gangs

Week #2: Monday Sept 1 No Class: Labor Day

Week # 3: Monday Sept 8 People & Folks and Presentation, discussion. The impact of deindustrialization Individual meetings with students.

Week #4: Monday Sept 15 Theory: Akers Criminological Theories. Chapters One,Two, Seven, Ten, Eleven. Individual meetings with students. Final Selection of topics and literature.

Week # 5: Monday Sept 22 Seminar on Methodology: the collaborative method.. Jerome and Lavell ? Other speaker. Reading in methods: Back in the Field Again.

Week #6: Monday Sept 29 Going Down to the Barrio.

Week # 7 : Monday October 6 Papers begin: First on Numbers last on Policy , any order in between Run the numbers: Curry, Klein, other sources.

Week # 8 : Monday October 13 Organization: structure, how do gangs get organized. Small Town Gangs, Migration, etc. Huff, Taylor, Zevitz, Hardmann, Klein Cloward & Ohlin, Taylor, Thrasher, Short & Stodtbeck

Week # 9 : Monday October 20 Female Gangs Fighting Female, Molls, Ann Campbell

Week # 10: Monday October 27 Ethnicity and Gangs. Campbell, Royko and that peice on Chicago gang, Spergel, Moore, Zatz, Diego: in Huff

Week # 11: Monday Nov 3 Subculture, Gang culture and American culture Cloward and Ohlin, Merton, Yablonsky, Wilson & Sampson,

Week # 12: Monday Nov 10 Gang Violence Klein, Blocks, Moore on variation, Gender and violence Messerschmidt. my violence peice

Week 13: Monday Nov 17 Drugs and gangs Cloward & Ohlin, Miller,

Week 14: Monday Nov 24 Prisons and Gangs Camp and Camp, Jacobs, Waldorf. Public Policy, the War on Drugs:and all that or Family film on Netherlands Klein, Hagedorn 91, Spergel, some get tough stuff

Week 15: Monday Dec 1 PIV: presentation and discussion. Conclusions of the class on the nature of post industrial gangs. Pizza....and papers due.

Week 16: Monday Dec 8 ???

NO Final Exam. Relax.