Hate Crime, Extremism, and Terrorism

Catalog description

This course is primarily a discussion-based seminar, engaging in a critical analysis of hate crime, extremism, and terrorism from a criminological perspective. First, students will engage with issues related to genocide and the role of the state in fostering hate. Students will then grapple with the arguments surrounding legislation relevant to hate speech and hate crime. There will also be an overview of the nature of hate crime, focusing on victims, motivations, and explanations of such crime. After discussing organized hate and extremist groups, students will also engage with the debate on the nature of the hate crime-terrorism relationship. The second half of the course focuses on terrorism as students learn about complexity of defining and explaining terrorism, focusing on the wide array of definitions of terrorism and the main theories of terrorism across a variety of disciplines. Students will examine different types of terrorism, including state and dissident terrorism generally as well right-wing, left-wing, religious, and international terrorism in the United States. The course will end with an overview of responses to hate crime, extremism, and terrorism, including issues surrounding the War on Terror. Students will further develop research, writing, and critical analysis skills after writing a term paper addressing a topic related to hate crime, extremism, and/or terrorism.