Admission Information | Calendar Home | A&S Students Home | University of Toronto Home |
Woodsworth College Courses
For Distribution Requirement purposes, all WDW courses are classified as SOCIAL SCIENCE courses. |
Criminology CoursesFor all WDW Criminology courses, students must be enrolled in the Specialist or Major Program in Criminology.
WDW200Y1 The nature of crime and the Canadian system designed to control it. Introduction to major approaches to understanding crime and the development of criminal law, significant research on crime and the criminal justice system, laws and procedures related to crime and crime control in Canada. Not open to first year students. WDW220Y1 An introduction to criminal law and the criminal process. The essential elements of criminal liability, including defences to criminal charges, the general characteristics of offences against the person, sexual offences, regulatory offences, and ‘victimless offences.’ The criminal process, from investigation to sentencing, and the implications of the Charter of Rights for both substantive criminal law and criminal procedure. WDW300H1 Major social and political theories of crime, law and justice, and their implications for policy development in the criminal justice system. The origins of central ideas that influence criminological theory and policy, seen in an historical context. Students are encouraged to develop the analytical skills needed to think critically about criminal justice policy. WDW310H1 Criminal justice history in the context of Canada’s social, political and economic development from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Topics covered include: colonization and resistance, gender and sexuality, policing and punishment, and the development of criminal law. WDW320H1 A critical examination of the process by which certain conduct is identified, prosecuted and punished as “crime”, and the process by which individuals become “criminals”. The evolution of the modern prosecution system, including the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, rules of evidence, socially constructed defences, disparity in sentencing, and wrongful convictions. WDW335H1 A theoretical framework is developed to examine the nature of policing, its structure and function. Attention is given to the history of policing and to its public and private forms. An examination of the objectives and domain, as well as the strategies, powers, and authority of contemporary policing; including decision-making, wrong-doing, accountability, and the decentralization of policing. WDW340H1 The study of punishment from historical and philosophical perspectives, with a focus on contemporary Canadian policy issues. Topics covered include penal theory, prisons and non-carceral forms of punishment, and the goals of penal reform. WDW350H1 An introduction to social science research methods used by criminologists. An understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of published criminological research is developed. Specific technical issues such as sampling and measurement are taught in the context of examining alternative ways of answering research questions. WDW355H1 By learning how to use quantitative data to answer research questions, students develop the ability to apply basic descriptive and inferential statistical techniques to improve their comprehension of criminological data. Each student carries out a research project using publicly available data, and develops an understanding of the manner in which data are analyzed in published criminological research. WDW360H1 The increasing involvement of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in the criminal justice system over the past 150 years, including contemporary Canadian practices. Emphasis is placed on understanding and evaluating competing interpretations of this phenomenon. WDW365H1 Legal, psychological and sociological understandings of issues in the criminal justice system, through a consideration of topics including: criminal intent, the insanity defence, the concept of ‘psychopathy’, the use of ‘battered woman syndrome’ as part of a self-defence, issues of transcultural psychiatry, and jury screening for bias. WDW370H1 Administration of the youth justice system in Canada. The Youth Criminal Justice Act provides a legal framework for considering individual rights, the protection of society, and the welfare of young people. An analysis of legal principles and practices at various stages in the youth justice process. Policy issues and proposals for reform. WDW375H1 Historical and contemporary definitions of illegal conduct by young persons. The nature and extent of youth crime, and an analysis of theories which attempt to explain it. Assessment of the effectiveness of treatment and other strategies for preventing and responding to youth crime. WDW380H1 Theory, research and policy related to the ways in which gender shapes criminal behaviour, the administration of criminal justice, and the criminal law. How notions of different types of masculinity and femininity are embedded in and influence both the operation of the criminal justice system as well as criminal behaviours. The regulation of gender and sexuality through the criminal law and through crime. WDW385H1 Cultural constructions of crime, disorder, dangerousness and risk are integral parts of the criminal justice system. A critical analysis of how police, crown attorneys, judges and the media construct their authority through symbols and images, in order to “explain” and manage crime, and how these representations are regarded in public discourse. WDW387H1 Regimes for prohibiting and regulating consensual activities such as drug use, pornography, prostitution, abortion, and gambling. Historical evolution of the law, current substantive elements required for conviction, philosophical and criminological perspectives on the decriminalization or legalization of these activities, and an examination of how other countries regulate them. WDW388H1 Drugs, drug use and addiction from a criminological perspective. The history and social construction of addiction, licit and illicit drugs, criminal and disease models of drug use, drug control laws, drugs in the media, legal and constitutional issues related to drug control, policy reform, and implications for social control. WDW389Y0 Topics in Criminology offered in an international setting. The content may vary from year to year. WDW390H1 WDW391H1 WDW392H1 WDW393H1 WDW394H1 Topics vary from year to year, but the objective of the course is to explore emerging issues in Criminology, and their social, legal, ethical and political implications. WDW395H1 Independent study under the direction of a Criminology faculty member. WDW400H1 An advanced seminar exploring in detail current issues in Criminology. Topics vary from year to year, but the objective of the course is to discuss current issues and their social, ethical and legal implications. WDW415H1 An advanced seminar examining the development of criminal justice and penal policies in Canada, the United States, Western Europe and Russia; the way authorities in those countries define and manage political deviance and the intrusion of politics into the administration of justice, especially in non-democratic settings. WDW420H1 An advanced seminar exploring in detail current issues in criminal law. Topics vary from year to year, but the objective of the course is to discuss current policy and case law developments in the criminal law, and their social, political and ethical implications. The role of Parliament and the judiciary in the development of the criminal law is considered. WDW425H1 An advanced seminar focusing on the legal and conceptual framework for responding to state violence and war crimes, and the challenges faced by various international legal institutions. Legal doctrines of sovereign immunity and universal jurisdiction, the history of international criminal prosecutions, and substantive international criminal law are examined. WDW450H1 An individual research project under the direction of a Criminology faculty member. Approval of the Undergraduate Co-ordinator is required. WDW480H1 The meaning, purposes and sources of interpersonal violence, including an examination of debates over defining and documenting violence, and a review of the research on the relationships between illegitimate, interpersonal violence and state-approved or state-initiated violence. Cultural, social and individual correlates of interpersonal violence; law’s violence; and how violence is justified and denied.
|