The University of Texas at Dallas, Fall 2021

UT Dallas students enrolled in this course: use eLearning/Blackboard for info on course assignments and updates. This page will not be updated.

link to Galaxy page where you can log in to eLearning: https://www.utdallas.edu/galaxy/

Everybody else: I have posted my course schedule, reading list, and syllabus in an attempt to be helpful. Feel free to use these public goods but if you use any of my materials verbatim or substantially base your course off mine, please cite me/acknowledge me.

Syllabus

Course Schedule and Reading List

Acknowledgements: Thank you Samara Gunter (my undergrad econ of crime professor) for sharing your syllabus and reading list with me. The reading list has changed quite a bit since I took your course over a decade ago because there have been many fantastic papers in the economics of crime literature written in the last decade, but the assessments are timeless. Thank you Evan Riehl for the list of reading questions, which I adapted slightly.

Course Description

This course empirically analyzes the causes and consequences of crime and the criminal justice system using the tools of economics. A main focus of the course is reading and discussing empirical research papers in the economics of crime literature. Topics include the effects of incarceration on the incarcerated, the impacts of policies intended to deter crime or reduce recidivism, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and the causes and consequences of domestic violence. Major projects include creation of a data portfolio examining one of several sources of national crime data using tables, graphs, and statistical relationships and a group presentation on a major episode or issue in U.S. crime policy.

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