Crime Across the Curriculum may sound like a line on a police blotter, but as the title of the upcoming 39th annual Faculty Lecture at Santa Barbara City College, the topic will prove to be more than a simple list of recent illegal activities in the neighborhood.

Anne Redding, department chair and professor in SBCC’s School of Justice Studies, will offer a journey through time, pop culture and the judicial system in her talk at 2:30 p.m. March 21 in the Garvin Theatre. The event is open to the public.

Asked to describe Crime Across the Curriculum, Redding said the goal is to illustrate how issues of crime and justice have always cut across all disciplines and all aspects of life.

“Stories about crime are human storytelling at the most basic level; they show us the worst — and the best — of what humans can be,” she said.

Redding said even crimes that took place long ago live on in popular songs, TV shows and movies. Citing Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho as an iconic film based on a true-crime story, pointed out how crime has influenced language as well.

“You’ve heard of the term rule of thumb,” she said. “It comes from English common law that said it was all right for a man to beat his wife with a stick as long as the stick was not thicker than his thumb.”

A voracious reader of Sherlock Holmes mysteries as a young girl, and later a fan of the TV show Cagney and Lacey, about New York police detectives, Redding said her interests led her to major in criminal justice at Los Angeles Valley Community College,

She then earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and master’s in public administration from California State University, Los Angeles. After teaching at the Police Academy, serving as a law enforcement park ranger, and teaching at two other colleges, she joined SBCC in 2004.

Fellow members of faculty and staff, and students participated in the process that led to Redding selection as this year’s faculty lecturer, the highest honor bestowed on a SBCC faculty member. The honor distinguishes a full-time faculty member for excellence in teaching and overall contributions to SBCC.

Redding, known for her enthusiasm and humor in the classroom, said she has a special affinity for her students, having attended community college herself.

“I know that in the long run my students won’t remember everything I cover in class, but I hope it’s a launching pad where I can light the spark that inspires them to keep learning,” she said.

It’s not surprising, then, to hear how one student summed up classes taught by Redding: “She makes you want to learn more.”

— Luz Reyes-Martin for SBCC.