BIOSOCIAL Criminology SPRING 2021 | CCJ 4934 | ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS | M, W, F 12:50-1:40 PM This broad course argues that answers to questions on the etiology of violence, antisocial behavior, and psychopathy lie significantly in an interdisciplinary biopsychosocial perspective: the interaction or interplay between cultural, environmental, social, psychological, medical, biological, neurological, and genetic factors. It takes a cross- disciplinary approach to understanding criminal behavior, drawing on perspectives from psychology, criminology, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, psychiatry, neuroanatomy, neurobiology, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, forensics, pediatrics, and public health. It is only by incorporating knowledge from multiple areas that we will be better able to understand, predict, and ultimately prevent future criminal behavior. The focus will not just be on violence and crime but will also include related clinical and legal concepts of crime, psychopathy, aggression, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and juvenile delinquency. This course will also go beyond research and practice into the moral, ethical, political, and philosophical issues underlying the subject matter, such as Neurolaw and Neuroethics. Because this class is relatively broad and interdisciplinary, it is appropriate for those from a wide range of majors without a background in biology or criminology. Students need not have any prior knowledge of biology to take this class. It is especially appropriate for Criminology, Psychology, and Biological Bases of Behavior majors, as well as students from other disciplines. The course utilizes a variety of different sources of information on criminal behavior: my lectures, guest lectures/expert (maybe), journal article readings, and documentaries. Be attentive to the fact that this is an interdisciplinary class. At times we may go into narrower methodological and research issues. Conversely, be also prepared for a much broader sweep of our knowledgebase on this topic than you would normally obtain in a more specialist Criminology, Biology, or Psychology class. The course focuses on neurobiological processes because they have been greatly neglected to date and there is a need to communicate these new advances. But this course will not espouse a simple explanation for the causes of crime. If behavior genetic studies on crime and violence have told us anything, it is that between 40-60% of the variability in crime is due to the environment. One of the future challenges lie in understanding how environmental factors interact with biological factors in predisposing to violence, and we will devote time to this important area. The causes of violence are complex and multifaceted. Instructor: Dorothy Du Email: [email protected] Office: Turlington 3201 Office Hour: by appointment Email is the easiest and most effective way to reach me. However, if I don't answer your email within 48 hours, Pronouns: she/her please re-email me. COURSE OBJECTIVES 1. To develop a rudimentary understanding of some of the neuroscience techniques used to probe violence, including brain imaging, psychophysiology, neurochemistry, neuropsychology, and behavioral / molecular genetics. 2. Introduce you to “neuro-criminology” or “biopsychosocial-criminology”: the neurobiological and biological factors that predispose to crime and violence. 3. Understand how psychological factors interact with biological and social factors in predisposing to crime and violence. 4. Gain an appreciation of a multidisciplinary approach to understanding crime, as well as some basic methodological, conceptual, and technical knowledge from these disciplines. 5. To gain a critical appreciation of the main biological theories on the causes of violent and antisocial behavior. 6. To recognize implications of biosocial criminology research for the treatment and ultimate prevention of violent and antisocial behavior. 7. Gain an awareness of the moral, ethical, forensic, and legal issues surrounding biosocial criminology and their implications for society at large. 8. More generally, increase your interest, understanding, and appreciation of crime and violence. COURSE READINGS The course text which will give you a general introduction to each topic/lecture and is available in paperback: Raine, A. (2014). The anatomy of violence: The biological roots of crime. Vintage Books (paperback). Below under “Course Schedule”, for each lecture you will see a chapter from the book that gives you a background to that topic. If it says, “see index”, just look up the topic in the index in the back of the book. In addition, each week I will also give you at least two readings (or sometimes more) that relate to the week’s lecture. You will need to read both articles and book chapters BEFORE each class. CANVAS Our course is organized via Canvas under MODULE section. Additional Readings and Lecture PowerPoint will be posted on our canvas site. ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINE All assignments are required to be double-spaced/one-inch margin/12-point font/Times New Roman and should be turned in by the end of the due date via Canvas through Turnitin, and the similarity score must be below 24% matching (Green). Files should be handed in as .doc or .docx (or .ppt or .pptx) format. Proper citation style following American Psychological Association format. Failing to follow this format will result in a 50% reduction in your grades. APA citation guide: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ COURSE REQUIREMENTS Class Attendance: Class attendance is required. All students are expected to participate in each class session with appropriate comments in the lecture, by sharing discussion questions, and through lively conversations in the discussion part of class. You may not be excused from a class period barring a documentable emergency. Class attendance is worth 40 points of your grade (1 point per day, starting from January 15th). Each student needs to present their name on Zoom, and I will take a screen shot at 12:52 pm during each class period. Students who fail to attend the class online before 12:52 pm or fail to present their name on Zoom will NOT receive attendance points. You also need to show your full face, not sit on bed, behave professionally. Personal Information Sheet (5 points): The personal information sheet (provided as a separate document) is required to be finished by 11:59 pm on January 15th. The course is designed to be vibrant, collaborative, highly open and respect for opinions. This course contains multiple group discussions and presentations throughout the semester. The information sheet can not only help me know the students, but can also help me assign members with different ideologies into the same group. ): Students are required to post at Discussion Posts (3 points/week, total 3 x 14 = 42 points least 3 questions about the weekly readings on Canvas by Sunday midnight (11:59pm) EACH week. The questions will be addressed or used in the week’s lecture. Spontaneous Quizzes (Uncertain): Quizzes will be given randomly during each week (mainly on Friday morning) depending on the content, direction, and participation of the class. In general, each quiz has no more than 10 questions and student will have at most 13 mins (time varies by the number of questions) to answer them. Each question in the quiz worth 1 point. Syllabus Quiz (10 points): A brief quiz of the syllabus will be given out on Canvas to ensure students understand the rules and activities of the course. You may choose to finish the quiz at any time, but no later than January 19th 11:59 pm. The quiz will contain 10 questions about the syllabus, and you will have 13 minutes to finish the quiz. Group Presentation (110 points): Students are required to give presentations on an assigned week with their group members. You and your group need to present a detailed summary (i.e., background, method, results) of ALL the required readings of that week. You and your group will also need to CRITICALLY evaluate those articles (i.e., strength, weakness, how it contributes to the field, spark new interest or contradict with your opinions, etc.). The group will need to generate 3 discussion questions related to the week’s topic to facilitate class discussions. The presentation will take place on Monday where each week’s new topic starts. The grading rubric is provided below. Group Member Evaluation (10 points): After each group’s presentation, students will be asked to evaluate other members of the group and provide feedback or comment on their input to the presentation within a week. A detailed document providing instructions to the evaluation process will be provided as a separate document. Brief Reflection Essay (60 points): This course will also consist of a reflection/argument essay of a 3-pages of text in length (following above assignment guideline and not including APA references and any figures/illustrations), written on a topic of your choice and covering any aspect of the course material. I will provide more details of this paper during the semester. 1. At least 50% of the content of your essay should be “bio” in content and related to the class materials (crime/violence/aggression/psychopath/ASP). You are free to make up your own project title but check with me to ensure its appropriateness. 2. Compare and contrast supporting and opposing literatures based on your argument. 3. Critical evaluation of your argument/topic by including counterarguments and your academic and professional oppositions. 4. Show future connections and/or legal implications. 5. At least 5 references in APA style (in text and reference list) with 3 of them from outside academic articles (meaning not included in the class readings) The deadline for this brief essay is Friday April 2nd at 11:59 pm. However, I strongly advise you to think well ahead of time and complete/hand it in earlier. ***IMPORTANT*** I do not accept late assignments. Each submission is due by the end of the day, including the presentation PowerPoint.