Think Like a Sociologist
This concept refers to behavior that violates social norms but is not always illegal
What is Deviance?
This stage of corrections allows individuals to serve their sentence under community supervision instead of incarceration
What is Probation?
This 1919 case limited free speech if it poses a “clear and present danger” to the nation.
What is Schenck v United States?
The story of a chemistry teacher who enters the meth trade after a life-altering diagnosis.
What is Breaking Bad?
This federal U.S. agency was established in 1908 to investigate white-collar crime, fraud, and interstate criminal activity.
What is the FBI?
Émile Durkheim used this term to describe a state of normlessness that occurs when social rules break down.
What is Anomie?
This global issue involves the exploitation of people through force, fraud, or coercion.
What is human trafficking?
This 1973 U.S. case legalized abortion nationwide under the constitutional right to privacy.
What is Roe v. Wade?
Set in New York City, this legal drama focuses on prosecutors handling criminal cases from arrest through trial.
What is Law and Order?
This 1995 televised trial captured the nation’s attention and raised discussions about race, celebrity, and the legal system
HINT: "If the glove doesn't find, you must acquit"
What is the OJ Simpson Trial?
This term describes the shared expectations, rules, and behaviors that guide social life.
What are norms?
This commonly used data source tracks reported crime rates in the United States.
What is the Uniform Crime Report?
This 1989 case allowed students to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War as protected symbolic speech.
What is Tinker v. Des Moines?
This legal drama is set in a high-powered New York law firm and follows a brilliant college dropout who practices law despite never attending law school.
What is Suits?
This U.S. policy led to increased arrests and incarceration for drug offenses beginning in the 1980s.
What is the War on Drugs?
This perspective examines how individuals negotiate meaning, create identities, and interpret social interactions rather than just following rules
What is Symbolic Interactionalism?
This type of crime involves illegal activity that crosses national borders
What is Transnational Crime?
This 1966 Supreme Court case ruled that evidence obtained illegally by police cannot be used in federal courts.
What is Mapp v. Ohio?
This crime drama follows an FBI team that studies serial offenders by analyzing behavior patterns and psychological profiles.
What is Criminal Minds?
In 1965, tensions in Los Angeles erupted into riots, exposing systemic racism, poverty, and policing issues in urban neighborhoods.
What is the Watts Riots?
This concept describes how inequality and social rules are internalized, leading some groups to have more power and privilege than others
What is Stratification?
This country has a relatively low crime rate, but is also mainly and often cited for its rehabilitative and humane prison system.
What is Norway?
This 1972 case limited the ability of federal courts to intervene in state redistricting, coining the “one person, one vote” principle.
Baker v. Carr
This series is widely praised for showing how institutions—policing, education, politics, and media—interact to shape crime and inequality
What is the Wire?
This 2013 attack on a U.S. city’s marathon led to reforms in emergency response and domestic terrorism investigations.
What is the Boston City Marathon?