Link to What's New This Week CRMJ/SOCA 365: Race, Crime and Law

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Race, Crime and Law Preparations

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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: June 22, 2003
Latest Update: November 16, 2006
E-Mail Icon jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

Site Teaching Modules CRMJ/SOCA 365: Race, Crime and Law
Week 12: Race and 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.

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Week 12: Week of November 19, 2006

  • Lecture: in class

  • Concepts:
    • Chicano
    • Reies Tijerina
    • Cesar Chavez
    • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
    • Ruben Salazar
    • prisons
    • jails
    • community corrections
    • probation
    • parole
    • minority overrepresentation
    • prison gangs
    • supermax
    • revocation
    • recidivism

  • Discussion Questions:

      Incorporate the readings and the documentary, Chicano!" in your answers.

    1. How does "race and corrections" relate to the documentary, "Chicano!"? What does this tell us about "theory, policy, and practice" when it comes to Chicanos and corrections? Why.
    2. What correctional policies can be created from the principles of restorative justice (based on indigenous justice principles)? Are these values more compatible with some offenses than others? More appropriate for some types of offenders than others? What would Fellman say about this issue? Why. [from Walker, p. 369]
    3. Do you think prison gang formation is influenced most by external forces and the gang affiliations offenders bring to prison from the streets or by the internal forces of the prison environment, such as racial composition? What arguments can you offer to support your position? [from Walker, p. 369]
    4. What is the impact of the War on Drugs on racial/ethnic groups? What does Kennedy have to say about this issue?

  • 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.

    • Examine the most recent research on disproportionate minority confinement.
    • Compare and contrast minorities in prison to minorities in jail. What are the similarities and differences between these two correctional populations? Why.
    • Explore:
      -- prisoner rights and race/ethnicity.
      -- race/ethnicity and prison gangs.
      -- rehabilitation and recidivism by race
      -- alternatives to incarceration by race
      -- community supervision in racial/ethnic communities

    • Make A Box a Week focusing on the week's topic or issues.

    • Make a Globe (Origami Balloon). Try it!

  • Recommended Readings:

    • Paul Wice. Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and the American Justice System.
    • Marc Mauer . Americans Behind Bars: A Comparison of International Rates of Incarceration.
    • William Wilbanks. The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System.
    • Marc Mauer. Race to Incarcerate.
    • Marc Mauer. Young Black Men and the Criminal Justice System: A Growing National Problem.
    • Michael Tonry. Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America.
    • Jerome Miller. Search and Destroy: African-American Males in the Criminal Justice System.
    • Joan Petersilia. Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System.
    • Kenneth Culp Davis. Discretionary Justice.

      Recommended readings on Latino/a Americans:

    • Luis Rodriguez. Always Running: La Vida Loco, Gang Days in L.A..

    • Rudolfo Acuna. Occupied America: A History of the Chicanos.

    • Susan Berk-Seligson. Bilingual Courtroom.

    • Richard Rodriguez. Hunger of Memory.

    • Joan Moore. Going Down to the Barrio: Homeboys and Homegirls in Change.

    • Joan Moore. Homeboys: Gangs, Drugs, and Prison in the Barrios of Los Angeles.

    • Armando Rendon. (i think) The Chicano Manifesto .


    • The Dalai Lama. Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama.
    • 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"


    • Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, June 2003.
    "Fair use" encouraged.