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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: June 22, 2003
Latest Update: October 12, 2006
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ/SOCA 365: Race, Crime and Law
Week 7: The Courts

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 7: Week of October 15, 2006

• Topic: The Courts

  Special Note: October 16-23 - Required First Meeting. If you don't have a meeting scheduled, see me ASAP!

  Making a Box . Be creative and imaginative in making a box that illustrates your learning in this course.
  

• Preparatory Readings:
  --- Fellman. Rambo and the Dalai Lama. entirety
  --- Walker, et. al The Color of Justice. ch. 5
  --- Kennedy. Race, Crime and the Law. ch. 5
  --- Documentary, "-----" (to be shown in class)
  
  

• Links to Lecture Notes and Other Things
  

  Join the Yahoo Discussion Group . Discuss topics beyond the classroom and with students from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
  

  Transforming Discourse: Teaching Tolerance
  National Criminal Justice Resource Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
  
  Gordon Fellman related materials on the Dear Habermas site.
  W.I. Thomas "Definition of the Situation
  
  Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) on How We Teach and Why

Lecture: in class

Concepts:

• the Scottsboro case
• Gideon v. Wainwright
• public defender
• bail
• pretrial detention
• plea bargaining
• prosecutorial discretion
• due process
• equal protection

Discussion Questions:

Incorporate the readings and the documentary, "-----" in your answers.



1. In Chapter 5, "Race and the Composition of Juries: Setting the Ground Rules," what are the three main issues discussed by Kennedy? How would Fellman react to these issues? Why.
2. . . . Are racial minorities represented by public defenders or assigned counsel treated more harshly than those represented by private attorneys? If you were an African American, Hispanic or Native American defendant and could choose whether to be represented by a public defender or a private attorney, which would you choose? Why. [ For the complete question, refer to Walker, p. 194, Q. 1]
3. Racial minorities make up a very small proportion of the lawyers and judges in the United States. What accounts for this? What difference, if any, would it make if more of the lawyers representing criminal defendants were racial minorities? [from Walker, p. 194, Q.2]
4. . . . But he [Randall Kennedy] asks, "on balance, are black communities hurt by prosecutions of pregnant women for using illicit drugs harmful to their unborn babies or helped by intervention which may at least plausibly deter conduct that will put black unborn children at risk?" How would you answer this question? What might Fellman's reaction be? Why. [For the complete question, refer to Walker, p. 194, Q.5]

Ideas and Suggestions for Creative Measures

Note: Start thinking about ideas for your creative measures. Must relate to "race, crime, law." 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). No term papers! Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measure in class. Email me your idea. Before the absolute final deadline, you need to have completed your visual projects of your learning in this course. Think about how you might demonstrate your learning visually creative way.



• Make A Box a Week focusing on the week's topic or issues.
• Go to the county courthouse, and observe "law in action." Relate your observations to this week's readings.
• View the movie, "Gideon's Trumpet." How does this movie relate to "race, crime, law"?
• Find out nationally, statewide, and/or locally, the number and proportion of practicing attorneys of color.
• Research the Scottsboro case.
• Examine one or more of the following issues relating to racial minorities and:

  --- the right to counsel.
  --- bail.
  --- pretrial detention.
  --- plea bargaining.
  
  

• Study the issue of racial minorities in the legal profession. What are some of the major issues and challenges? Why.
  
  
• Research the Dalai Lama -- his past and present.
• Research "forgiveness". Begin with these books: Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness. Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness.

Recommended Readings:

--- Paula DiPerna. Juries on Trial.
-- Alan Desrhowitz. The Best Defense.
-- Steve Bogira. Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Courthouse.
-- Deborah L. Rhode. Access to Justice.
-- Mark Weiner. Black Trials.
--- Dan T. Carter. Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South.
--- Anthony Lewis. Gideon's Trumpet.
--- Harriet Ziskin. The Blind Eagle.
--- Jonathan Casper. Criminal Courts: The Defendant's Perspective.
--- Samuel Walker. Taming the System: The Control of Discretion in the Criminal Justice System.
--- Kenneth Culp Davis. Discretionary Justice.
--- James P. Levine. Juries and Politics.



--- Milton Gordon. Assimilation in American Life.
--- Robert Blauner. Still the Big News: Racial Oppression in America.
--- William Julius Wilson. The Declining Significance of Race.
--- William Julius Wilson. The Truly Disadvantaged.




• The Dalai Lama. The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality.
• The Dalai Lama. Ethics for the New Millennium.
• The Dalai Lama. An Open Heart.
• The Dalai Lama. Live in a Better Way.
  
  
  
• The 9-11 Commission Report
• Alfie Kohn. No Contest. The Case Against Competition.
• Thomas Kuhn. Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

• Paulo Freire. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
• 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 365-001 (MWF) "Race, Crime, Law"

Course Syllabus for CRMJ/SOCA 365-002 (TR) "Race, Crime, Law"