Mask Making: Incorporating Service Learning into Criminology and Deviance Courses

Criminology and Deviance Classes are often among the most popular in the sociology undergraduate curriculum. These courses provide a unique opportunity for teachers since many students come to class with an intense interest in the subject matter combined with strong opinions about crime, criminals, and deviants. Because these opinions are often based on media reports and stereotypes, criminology and deviance courses provide fertile ground for teaching sociology. At the same time, however, student preconceptions tend to favor individualistic explanations of crime and deviance, making it difficult to teach concepts such as the social construction of deviance. In this article, the authors propose a unique way to incorporate service learning into criminology and deviance classes to help students overcome this type of resistance to a sociological perspective.