This program will introduce students to the study of law and our system of justice as major social institutions. In the first half of the program our focus will be on law and will examine questions as the following: How do laws develop? Why do we comply with them? When do we violate them? Who enforces them? Which populations and interest groups benefit most from their enforcement? The class will study how laws vary across social groups and how they inevitably change over time.
In the second half of the program, we will focus on criminal justice and how our system of justice administers and enforces criminal laws. We will study the many stages of the legal process and the social and legal forces influencing how the process works. We will discuss the working relationships between legal actors in the justice system and how they interact with one another and with the clients they represent. Finally, we will study the relationships between criminal laws, their enforcement, and social, racial and economic inequality the larger society.
Students will participate actively in seminar discussions, develop and demonstrate a deep understanding of the ideas and concepts studied, and participate in observational studies of social groups and processes in the surrounding community. They will strengthen their skills in reading original research, writing argumentative/expository essays, and reasoning through major social problems and their remedies.
Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:
4 - Law and Policy: The Origin, Enactment, and Implementation of Laws and Public Policies
4 - Society and Justice: Crime, Criminal Law and the Administration of Criminal Justice