Sample Class: Approaches to the Study of Organized Crime (Virtual)

In this session, we’ll explore organized crime and its subtypes—drug cartels, mafia groups, street gangs—and consider an important question: What makes crime organized? We'll discuss how groups illegally control territory, run economic markets, influence politics, and even impose rules on entire communities. We'll also consider how this plays out in the real world, as opposed to depictions in TV and film.

Next, we'll become social scientists as we tackle another complex problem: How can we study and measure organized crime and its effects on society? We'll review leading definitions and explore measurement tools used to study these groups, which are largely hidden from the public eye.

Note: this session will include a discussion of violence, including sexual violence, in certain parts.