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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: September 20, 2007
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ/SOCA 359 Law and Society

You will be held accountable for the readings and discussion questions 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.

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Week 4: Week of September 23, 2007

This week, you should be researching your pre-approved creative measure topic(s) for your midterm visual project(s). Use scholarly citations/sources. Maintain a bibliography, which you are required to attach to your visual project(s).

Topic: Law and Discretion

Preparatory Readings

• Bonsignore . Before the Law. Chapter 2.
  
  
• Bellow and Minow. Law Stories. -- .
• Curran and Takata. Sociology of Law Handbook:
  -- Introduction
  -- Chapter 1, part 1
  -- Chapter 1, part 2
  -- Chapter 2
  
  

Lecture related links:



• "Who's Habermas? Why Habermas?"
• W.I. Thomas "Definition of the Situation
  
  
• Those Infamous Grades and Letters of Recommendation
• "The Case Against Gold Stars" by Alfie Kohn.

Concepts to be covered:



• discretionary justice
• intuition
• informal systems of justice



Discussion Questions:

Note: In order to answer these questions, you must do the assigned readings for this week.

1. ...What role should intuition play? Can intuition be cultivated and improved, or is intuition "just there"? Can intuition peacefully co-exist with professionalism and "objectivity" or are they irreversibly opposed? If any of these elements can be controlled, i.e., rules or intuition, objectivity or subjectivity, which one ought to be? (B, p. 28, Q.5).
2. How do you reach decisions? Do you get a flash of intuition or a hunch and then rationalize it later, or do you assemble all the pros and cons and only then reach a conclusion? Which sources or methods of decision making do you regard as legitimate and which indefensible? (B, p. 28, Q.8)
3. As a member of the general public, what judge would you want to decide the case? What does your preference tell you about yourself? About professional perspectives as compared to public perspectives? (B, p. 33. Q.2)
4. If you or a member of your family were convicted of a forgery-type offense, which judge would you prefer? ( B, p. 33. Q.3)

5. Did Coleridge do justice here? How does one judge the quality of judgments? What values are at stake in this case? What good is accomplished by the decision? What harm? (B, p. 38, Q.1)



Suggested Visual Projects:




Note: Start thinking about ideas for your creative measures. Must relate to "law and society" Must be approved before starting your creative measure. Cannot be something that you are doing or have done for another course. 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). A bibliography must be attached to your visual presentation. No term papers! Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measure in class. Email me your ideas ASAP.



• Examine the critical issues relating to "discretionary justice."
• Explore intuition as a way of knowing.
• Study the prison system in your own state, using this reading for a start [B, chapter 2.4]. Who is in prison? For what offenses? For how long? Is parole available? Time off for good behavior? What is the overall cost of the system? For maintaining each prisoner? Compare the latter figure with the cost of attending college. [B, p. 43, Q.6]



Recommended Readings:

Kenneth Culp Davis. Discretionary Justice.

Atkins & Pogrebin. The Invisible System of Justice.

American Friends Service Committee. Struggle for Justice.


--- Jurgen Habermas. Between Facts and Norms.
--- Martha Minow. Making All the Difference: Exclusion, Inclusion and American Law. Check out this link Martha Minow on the Dear Habermas site.

Course Syllabus for CRMJ/SOCA 359 "Law and Society"

takata@uwp.edu