CRIMINOLOGY TOPICS AND QUESTIONS

1. Is there such a thing as "victimless" crime?

2. Marijuana: should it be criminal to use it?
3. Race as a factor in the imposition of the Death Penalty
4. Victimology: sensitivity or revenge
5. The "brutalization" of the public by use of the Death Penalty
6. Pornography: is there such a thing in and of itself?
7. Pornography: is it really a "legal" matter?
8. Crime as essentially a product of the contradictions of Capitalism
9. Civil Liberties and Capitalism: any contradictions here?
10. Crime Statistics and "hidden criminality"
11. Is Criminology "gender-blind": Women and Crime (by and against)
12. Sexual harassment of women: on and off the job
13. Are men ever sexually harassed?
14. Capital Punishment: .`Myths and Realities
15. The social location of crime: its distribution
16. How lawless are businesses?
17. Teaching college courses in prison: Why and How?
18. The Media's role in reporting crime: fact or ideology?
19. The Public's perception and fear of crime: any misconceptions here?
20. Sentencing: Ideas and Issues

21. Understanding crime through literature

22. The portrayal of crime and violence on prime-time TV and/or in the movies
23. Winos/bums/street people/homeless: the response of the CJ system
24. Social Class and unemployment: relationship to crime
25. Child Abuse...why?
26. Ex offenders: labeling and employment
27. Maintaining social order: who is unruly?
28. Who is a deviant?
29. Constitutional issues and Due Process
30. The development of Modern Crirninal Law...focused on a few behaviors
31. Juveniles: where does responsibility begin?
32. Crimes of the rich and of the poor: which are more serious?
33. Gun ownership and control in America...haven't we always had it?
34. White Collar Crime: types and reactions to it.
35. The profit motive: just a way of life...or...criminal?
36. Aggression and Deviance/Crime: is aggression really deviant?
37. Criminal Careers: how are they produced?
38. Alienation of workers and crime
39. Crirninal Justice System: in whose interest is it run?
40. Problems and issues in Police Administration
41. Political Crimes in America: are uniforms used?

42. ACLU: friend or foe (and of whom)?

43. Prisons: historical development and social psychological elements
44. Is life inside a prison so completely different from life outside?
45. Categories of prisoners and their specific needs
46. Correctional Officers: recruitment, training, lifestyle, job attitudes, role conflicts,
officer/inmate relations
47. Politics and Prison administration
48. The "view" from within a "cell"
49. Assumptions underlying "rehabilitation": were they ever/are they valid?
50. Social Workers and Psychologists with inmates: what relationship?
51. After imprisonment: what then?
52. Is our imprisonment system pathological?
53. Negotiated Justice: plea bargaining in "exchange-oriented" America
54. Correctional Treatment: is there anything to measure?
55. The purpose and effect of police professionalism
56. The various meanings of criminal statistics
57. Just what is recidivism?
58. The social organization of people in a prison
59. The alcoholic's "return" to society
60. Homosexuality and equal protection under the law
61. Lawyers as legislators: expertise or conflict of interest?
62. Consumer crime: social and physical harm to people

63. Organized Crime: the local political systems

64. American Justice: how much can you afford?
65. Judges: who are they, from where, and appointed by whom?
66. Prosecutors and Defense Lawyers: adversaries or coworkers?
67. Does an adversarial court system really determine truth?
68. The practice of law as a confidence game
69. Police brutality and corruption: can we trust "in-house" control?
70. Has Miranda (reading of rights) really hindered the police?
71. Is it okay to break the law to uphold the law?
72. Does Crime pay: what and to whom?
73. Pretrial and Trial publicity: the media's role
74. Do inmates give up all their rights when incarcerated?
75. Is all criminality deviant?
76. What would our society look like if it actually eliminated all crime?
77. Can we generalize about who's committing crime on the basis of who's been
caught?
78. Is any activity MALA EN SE (bad in and of itself)?
79. Is crime an evil which exists in spite of the law?
80. Who makes criminal law?
81. Are there class differences in criminal behavior?
82. Are more men criminal than women?
83. Why do some people challenge the criminal law?

84. Are we a nation "of laws" or "of men (human)"?

85. What does the way a society responds to crime tell us about that society and its
values...and about where that society sets its priorities?
86. Is crime a social as well as legal conception...something to be studied rather than
merely assumed?
87. Whose "order" or "stability" is disturbed by "crime"?
88. Should the subject matter of Criminology be limited to the existing legal
conceptions of crime?
89. Is our image of crime part of the "problem of crime"?
90. Are criminal activities any different in principle, than so-called honest business
activities?
91. Could we not ask whether or not our Criminal Justice Systems very existence is
JUST, rather than merely if there is justice IN it?
92. What would a "just" system look like?
93. Is our CJ System based on unequal treatment for un-equals and equal treatment for
equals?
94. To what extent is public opinion about crime the "result" of the authorities rather
than their "guide"?
95. To what extent do the police have an interest in maintaining either a high or low
rate of crime?
96. Do correctional officers and prison administrators have a conflict of interest
concerning rehabilitation?
97. Is "behavior modification" overused in prisons and other "treatment" programs?
98. Are "conditions" causes?
99. Is there such a thing as "free will"?

100. What other questions need to be asked which arent on this list?