Drugs & Crime 

 Drugs & Crime examines the social, cultural, economic, legal, and public-health dimensions of drug use and drug-related crime in the United States. Through an interdisciplinary criminological lens, students explore how drugs are defined, regulated, and experienced across communities, as well as how drug policy has evolved and shaped the criminal legal system. The course considers major drug-control strategies, the role of law enforcement and corrections, drug-law penalties, and alternatives to incarceration, including drug courts and treatment-oriented interventions.

As a fully asynchronous online course, CRJU 322 combines textbook readings, lecture materials, films and documentaries, quizzes, written video reflections, and online exams. Films and related writing assignments encourage students to connect course concepts with real-world experiences, and media portrayals of drugs, addiction, treatment, and enforcement. Attention to racial and social disparities invites students to consider how enforcement and punishment are unevenly applied, and how policy choices influence individual lives, families, and communities.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes

•  Explain foundational concepts related to drugs and crime, including definitions, classifications of drugs, patterns of use, and the scope of drug-related issues in the United States, using appropriate criminological terminology.  Analyze the historical development of U.S. drug control policies and evaluate how political, social, and economic factors have shaped contemporary drug laws and enforcement practices

 

• Assess the relationship between drugs and criminal behavior, including the ways drugs influence crime, victimization, and criminal justice system responses.

 

• Evaluate the impact of drug laws and drug-law penalties on diverse populations, with attention to race, class, gender, health outcomes, and social inequality, through written analysis.

 

• Compare and contrast criminal justice responses to drug use, including law enforcement strategies, correctional interventions, drug courts, prevention programs, and rehabilitation efforts.

 

• Critically analyze contemporary drug issues, such as opioids, marijuana, alcohol misuse, and emerging drug trends, using empirical evidence and course materials.

 

•  Apply harm reduction frameworks to evaluate alternative approaches to drug policy and treatment, including medical, public health, and community-based strategies.

 

• Synthesize course readings, lectures, and documentary films by drawing clear connections between media content and criminological theories in structured written assignments.