Public Safety and Criminal Justice: Politics, Policy, and Progress

Students will examine the failures and successes of public safety and criminal justice efforts. The course will use media and production accounts to evaluate the nuanced distinction between perceived and actual impact and critique and evaluate the intersection and divergence of both. Incorporated into the course and syllabus will be opportunities to observe the criminal justice process inaction, with attention to more recent efforts that include specialty courts, diversion, and re-entry. Additionally, related criminological theories and effect will be further examined with the intention of designing a recommended meaningful policy path forward. The course will provide a new opportunity for students to think critically about the relationship between politics, policy, and process and the inherent challenges that exist in this paradigm with a specific attention to practical solutions.