CRM 5010G - Police, Courts and Corrections

Credits: 4

This foundational course will consider the origins, the evolution, and the continuing refinement and development of the component segments (law enforcement, the courts, and the corrections system) of the criminal justice system in the United States. The organicity and dynamism of the system of criminal justice will be deconstructed in a framework of critical analysis that will examine the history and the legacy of the oppression of underclass populations by this system and the ways in which the manifestations and remnants of that history inform contemporary criminal justice practice. Students will investigate and interrogate discrimination, racism, and the brutality directed toward “otherized” populations in our corrections system, in law enforcement, and in the courts in order to consider and propose meaningful change strategies that will alleviate systemic inequality and injustice. This course is cross-listed for both graduates and advanced undergraduates.