CRM 7003G - Race, Ethnicity, and Social Control

Credits: 4

This course examines the historical and contemporary connections between race, ethnicity, and social control (both formal and informal). The politics and culture surrounding race and ethnicity are fundamental to the criminal justice system in the United States and elsewhere. The course will explore how racial inequality is connected to the legislative process, patterns of punishment, and public attitudes toward crime control. In the age of mass incarceration, three-strikes laws, and mandatory minimum sentencing, students will consider the ways that understandings of crime and criminal justice not only respond to inequality, but also help perpetuate inequality. The course will also explore the ways in which issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality inform the perspective(s) of the criminal justice, social, legal, or medical services practitioner in his/her delivery of services. The standpoint and worldview of the recipient(s) of the myriad police imprint, in most situations the subaltern: the underclass, the working poor, ethnic others, immigrant adults, and children, asylum seekers, people of color, women, and non-heterosexuals, will be examined and deconstructed. Students will be brought to an understanding as to the position of cultural ideology, (that of the practitioner and the client class), in affecting the spectrum of the criminal justice, social service, medical and legal service delivery apparatus.