Crime and Violence in U.S. Cities

To understand American inequality, politics, history, and cities, it is necessary to understand American violence. This course is a mix of criminology, public policy, sociology, and urban history. We'll cover ideas about how to explain violence, moving from theories that focus on individuals to focus on neighborhoods, policing, guns & culture. We'll think about how to explain trends in violence, focusing on the declining violence in the 90s to the recent rise of gun violence since 2020. We'll think about ways cities can respond to violence, from street lighting to summer jobs to hot spot policing & consider the impact & consequences of each.