For decades, the discipline of Political Science (or Government) neglected topics related to crime, policing, and criminal justice. The study of crime and/or institutions like law enforcement or the judiciary was largely carried out in fields such as Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology. However, political scientists (and economists) have recently been asking questions about the intersection between politics and crime, why law enforcement may discriminate against groups, and/or how disparities in access to justice can be mitigated. Today, these themes are no longer seen as isolated from politics or political processes but fundamentally related to governance and power. This course introduces students to the exciting wave of research being carried out in this domain. Among the topics that the course will cover include: does being a victim of crime affect political preferences? Do judges make biased decisions based on race or gender? Can ‘community policing’ improve citizen perceptions of law enforcement? Do government-mandated hiring quotas for women and minority groups in law enforcement affect access to justice for victims of crime? The course will not just highlight research from the advanced industrialized democracies (e.g., United States and United Kingdom), but also spotlight scholarship in diverse settings such as India, Liberia, Mexico, and Uganda. Students may develop a sense as to how disparate criminal justice institutions are organized, why challenges associated with access to justice or crime victimization are more acute in some settings versus others, and what reforms have been empirically shown to reduce crime, make law-and-order institutions accountable and less biased.