ADCJ 2001 Crime and Punishment

This course examines crime and punishment as two distinct, yet related, forms of social action. The first half focuses on the social roots of criminality. The second half concerns the social relations of punishment. While we will treat these as relatively autonomous topics, we will also spend time addressing the mismatches between the forces that promote criminality and the organized reactions to crime. We will also study a number of general structures and processes that simultaneously affect crime and punishment. For example, we will study how capitalism and racism shape crime. We will then study how these same systems shape and are shaped by punishment. Special attention will also be paid to the contradictions of criminal justice and social justice in the contemporary United States.