HIS 100 Criminal Justice and Popular Culture

3 hours 

This course surveys the relationship between criminal justice and popular culture in America since 1900. The course addresses the ways in which mass media both influence and are shaped by public policy and practice, public understandings of crime and law enforcement, and public faith in institutions of justice. We will also examine the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which particular ways of thinking about crime developed. In doing so, students will develop a deeper understanding of their own relationships to significant issues of justice as potential future criminal justice professionals.