Courses

Undergraduate CRI Courses

Please check the Arts & Science Timetable for current CRI undergraduate course offerings.

In the introductory courses (CRI205H1 Introduction to Criminology, CRI210H1 Criminal Justice, CRI215H1 Introduction to Sociolegal Studies, and CRI225H1 Criminal Law) students will learn how to think critically about the material and set the tone for advanced courses in the program.

In third-year courses, students are encouraged to think critically about the assumptions behind the various views of crime and the criminal justice system that are part of our everyday discussions. The focus is on going beyond simple views about crime and the justice system toward a more critical - and evidence-based - understanding of the general phenomena that relate to crime.

400-Level CRI Topics Courses 

In fourth-year courses, students have an opportunity to study a number of specialized topics in a seminar setting. These courses examine in depth topics that were covered in lower level courses.  The seminar courses are often connected to the instructors' research interests. Students in 400-level courses will be required to complete extensive readings, research and writing assignments in addition to actively participating in seminar discussion.

400-Level CRI Topics Courses - Course Descriptions

Fall 2025

CRI492H1 Advanced Topics in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Topics: Digital methods for investigation
Instructor: Jamie Duncan
Seminar: FR:13:00-15:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

This course explores how digital tools and technologies are transforming the investigative professions including policing and national security, private investigations, human rights advocacy, cybersecurity, and journalism. Students will become familiar with the landscape of open and closed-source investigative methods and how these tools are used across several professional fields. They will be able to articulate how digital tools and methods are shaping the future of knowledge work with particular attention to their own areas of professional interest. Through the course, students will be prepared to critically examine the legal, ethical, social, and political implications of emerging digital tools and investigative practices through engagement with academic research and real-world case studies. Topics will include: the use of commercial intelligence and data aggregation platforms (like Palantir); the role of user generated content from smartphones and body cameras in media coverage of protest and conflict; using satellite imagery to document events in inaccessible locations; tracing cryptocurrency transactions to identify perpetrators of cybercrimes, and; identifying the spread of mis- and dis-information on social media. Students will also develop hands-on experience with several digital investigative methods through a series of weekly in-class tutorials. These include: exploring and describing administrative data; examining and visualizing networks; identifying topics and trends in texts from social media; tracing cryptocurrency transactions; extracting relevant information from large document leaks and; analyzing satellite imagery. No prior coding experience or technical training is required.

CRI493H1 Advanced Topics in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Topics: Human Rights Law and the Postcolonial Condition
Instructor: Harold Lovell/ Kamari Clarke
Seminar: MO:13:00-15:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

This interdisciplinary course examines the important role played by the Courts in shaping and expanding the rights of workers, minorities, and marginalized groups. It explores the historical tendencies of the postcolonial state towards authoritarian governance and the impact of human rights jurisprudence on the democratic political culture in postcolonial societies.

CRI494H1 Advanced Topics in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Topics: Law and Disasters
Instructor: Catherine Evans
Seminar: TU:13:00-15:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

This seminar considers the definition and legal implications of 'disasters' in contemporary and historical perspective. Through the lens of environmental, epidemiological, industrial, and technological catastrophes, this course invites students to explore how law shapes our understandings of human agency, collective responsibility, causation, and redress in an unpredictable world.

Winter 2026

CRI420H1 Current Issues in Criminal Law

Instructor: Adriel Weaver
Seminar: TU:18:00-20:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

An exploration of the concept of harm  in shaping criminal law and policy on issues such as drug use, sex work, and various forms of expression. Drawing on philosophy, legal scholarship, case law, legislative debates and social science research we examine the multiple and sometimes competing ways in which harm is invoked to both justify and limit state intervention. Topics include the meanings of harm, the relationship between harm and morality, and how harm is established.

CRI491H1 Advanced Topics in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Topics: Social Experiments: Testing Policies, Ideas and Beliefs about the Justice System
Instructor: Ángela Zorro Medina
Seminar: MO:13:00-15:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

How do we know if a justice policy works? Can we prove that interventions reduce crime or that new reforms protect rights better than the old ones? In this course, we dive into the world of social experiments and evidence-based research to explore how data is used to test and sometimes challenge assumptions about the justice system.
You'll learn how real-world studies are designed to make causal claims, how to tell if the evidence is convincing, and how to evaluate the numbers behind headlines and policy briefs critically. This is a hands-on, discussion-driven class that gives you the statistical foundation to understand (and question) how decisions in the justice system are made. No software skills required—just your curiosity and willingness to think critically.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to spot flawed research, understand how experiments and surveys shape policy, and build a solid foundation in statistical reasoning, skills that are essential for anyone thinking about research, policy, or law school.

CRI494H1 Advanced Topics in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

Topics: Complex Relationships: Family, Law, and the State
Instructor: Adina Radosh Sverdlin
Seminar: FR:13:00-15:00
Delivery Mode: In-Person

In this course, students will explore the intersections of law/regulation/the state and family. We will start by reflecting on what constitutes a family, considering different kinship arrangements, including nuclear, single-parent, and extended families, as well as multi-species kinship, donor-conceived children, and queer kinship. We will consider to what extent these arrangements are mediated and impacted by law and regulation. Throughout the course, we will question the supposed clear-cut division between the family, as the private realm, and law and regulations, as part of the public sphere. We will ponder what we understand as law, whether it is black letter law, other types of state-based regulations, moral codes, religious principles, or others. We will use case studies to gauge how the state, law, and the family intersect, including: instances when state institutions seek to shape and norm the family; examples when legal, institutional, and domestic violence feed each other; moments when individuals and groups strategically use the law and the state to create and break relationships; or when family and kinship can be ways to resist, challenge, and contest state regulations; and how institutions repurpose familialisms—terms and ways of relating that originate in the family—for other purposes. We will review Global North and Global South perspectives, academic and non-academic sources, and alternative voices to critically explore the interactions between family, law, and the state.