Race, Mass Incarceration and Policing

Seminar - 2 hours.  This course looks at key issues in the historical development and the current state of modern American imprisonment, policing structures, and the criminal justice system in relation to race. It will examine historical and contemporary scholarship, juridical shifts and case studies that provide arguments about the connections between race, poverty, and the criminal justice system in the form of imprisonment and policing. More specifically it will provide perspectives to understand how and why acts of police violence, racial disparities of imprisoned populations, questionable court proceedings, and unjust sentencing routinely take place as well as why they are often sanctioned in the justice system. Course readings and class discussions will examine a variety of both historical and contemporary circumstance and events such as (but not only) early US slave codes, state black codes, Jim Crow, settler colonialism, tribal law, racial profiling, police violence/brutality, jury nullification, gang enhancements and indeterminate sentencing.

Graduation Requirements: May satisfy Advanced Writing Requirement with instructor's permission.
Final Assessment: Response Papers/Short Presentation
Grading Mode:  Letter Grading