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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
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Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: February 16, 2006
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ 363: Corrections

You will be held accountable for purposes of grading for the readings and exercises listed here. There will be no "testing." That means that you will not have to live in anxious anticipation of what we will ask and how much you will have to know. Instead, we will provide weekly discussion questions, lectures, essays, and concepts we feel that you should know as a result of having taken this course. You will assure us of that learning and receive your grade for the questions and concepts about which you choose to write and talk with us. In addition you will find detailed explanations and examples on our grading policies in the first week's reading.

* * * * *

Week 6: Week of February 19, 2006

Special Note: Sign up now for your midterm meeting Midterm meetings will be held February 27th-March 3rd.

Topics: Courts, Constitution & Corrections


Preparatory Readings:

• Haas and Alpert. Dilemmas of Corrections. Chapter 16-21.
• Documentary: Hard Time (to be shown in class)
• Hassine. Life Without Parole. entirety.
  
  
  

Lecture related links:

• JOIN the Yahoo Discussion Group with CSUDH students.
  
• Convicts and Cops A resource on prison tatoos, prison slang terminology, and more!
  
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice..
  
• Maricopa County Sheriff's Office - Jail Link. Link found by Mary Frances Chachula.
  
• Atrocious Advice from "Supernanny" by Alfie Kohn.
  
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections
• W.I. Thomas "Definition of the Situation
  




Concepts to be covered:



• prisoner rights
• due process
• disciplinary hearings
• the Eighth Amendment



Discussion Questions:



Be sure incorporate the documentary, "Hard Time" into your answers.



1. How have offender rights been developed by the courts? What is the interrelationship between "theory, policy, practice" when it comes to "the courts, the Constitution and corrections"?
2. Do prisoners give up their rights and privileges as punishment for crime(s) committed? How do we balance between the protection of the prisoner's rights and the community's need to punish? Why.
3. Which court case in the Haas and Alpert readings, do you consider the most important and why?
4. What did you like best about Life Without Parole? What did you like least about this book? Why.
5. How does Hassine's conclusion relate to "the courts, the Constitution and corrections?" Do you agree with his conclusion? Why.



Suggested Creative Measures:




Note: All creative measures must be approved by the instructor before you begin. Email the instructor with your idea. Creative measures cannot be something that you are doing or have done for another course. No term papers. Start thinking about ideas for your creative measures. Must relate to "corrections." Research cannot be 100% online (i.e., google, askjeeves). Must conduct library research using scholarly works, (not the popular press -- Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated). Email me your ideas. Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measures.



• new Research the prisoner rights movement.
  
• new Read other books related to prisoner rights:
  --- Lynne Goodstein and Doris Layton MacKenzie. The American Prison: Issues in Research and Policy.
  
  
• If you enjoyed reading Hassine's Life Without Parole , you might be interested in other prison autobiographies/biographies: a) Jack Henry Abbott. In the Belly of the Beast. b) Leonard Peltier. Prison Writings. c) Eldridge Cleaver. Soul on Ice. d) Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. Thirteenth Round. e) Jarvis Jay Masters. Finding Freedom: Writings from Death Row, e) Mumia Abu-Jamal. Live from Death Row., f) The Autobiography of Malcolm X.



Recommended Readings:



• Other books and studies on prisons:
  --- Erving Goffman. Asylums.
  --- Donald Clemmer. The Prison Community.
  --- Gresham Sykes. Society of Captives.
  --- Leo Carroll. Hacks, Blacks and Cons.
  --- Jeffrey Reiman. The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Prison.
  --- John Irwin. The Warehouse Prison.
  --- John Irwin. The Imprisonment Binge.
  --- John Irwin. Prisons in Turmoil.
  
  
  
• Alfie Kohn. Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community.
• Alfie Kohn. Unconditional Parenting.
  
  

Course Syllabus for CRMJ/SOCA 363 (Corrections)

takata@uwp.edu