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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: July 27, 2003
Latest Update: November 1, 2007
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu

CRMJ/SOCA 365 Race, Crime, Law

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 10: Week of November 4, 2007

Topic: Race and Sentencing

Preparatory Readings:

• Gordon Fellman. Rambo and the Dalai Lama. -- entire book.
• Samuel Walker and others. The Color of Justice. Chapter 7.
• Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic. The Derrick Bell Reader . Chapters 11.
• Documentary: "___ " (to be shown in class)
  
  
  

Lecture related links:



• Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System
• Index on Structural Violence
• Metaphor and Theory links to "The Blind Men and the Elephant." Relates to theoretical concepts discussed throughout the course.
• Critical Race Theory Resource Page
  
• Other Gordon Fellman related materials on the Dear Habermas site.
  
• National Criminal Justice Resource Service. Administered by the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.
  
  
• "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:



• mandatory sentencing
• indeterminate sentencing v. determinate sentencing
• "three-strikes" law
• truth-in-sentencing
• disparity
• contextual discrimination



Discussion Questions:





Note: In order to answer these discussion questions, you will need to view "The O.J. Verdict" and do the assigned readings for this week.

1. Why is the evidence of racial disparity in sentencing not necessarily evidence of racial discrimination in sentencing? What are the alternative explanations? Which explanation do you agree with? Why. [Walker, Q.1]
2. Some researchers argue that racial stereotypes affect the ways in which decision makers, including criminal justice officials, evaluate the behavior of minorities. What are the stereotypes associated with African Americans? Latinos/as? American Indians? Asian Americans? Euro Americans? How might these stereotypes affect judges' sentencing decisions? [Walker Q.2] What would Fellman and Bell say? Why.
3. Research reveals that young, unemployed African American and Hispanic males pay a higher punishment penalty than other types of offenders. What accounts for this? [Walker, Q.5]
4. The sentencing reforms adopted during the past three decades were designed to structure discretion and eliminate unwarranted disparity in sentence outcomes. Has this goal been achieved? [Walker, Q.10] What might Fellman and Bell advocate? Why.
5. Do some whites tkae pleasure in inflicting pain on the downtrodden? ... Or is blaming and reviling blacks a convenient excuse or scapegoat for white failings and guilt? [D&S, p. 337]



Suggested Creative Measures/Visual Projects:




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). You are expected to turn in a bibliography with each visual project. No term papers! Allow time to dialogue and present your creative measure in class. Email me your ideas ASAP.



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

• Make a Globe (Origami Balloon). Try it!
• Research your state's sentencing reform efforts during the past twenty years, including an analysis of the effects of such reforms on the duration of the averaage sentences served for various serious crimes, (from instructor's manual).
• Talk to a local judge about the sentencing process and the factors he/she considers when making a sentencing decision. [from instructor's manual]
• Discuss the 100-to-1 federal sentencing differentiual for possession of crack cocaine versus possession of powder cocaing. [from instructor's manual]
• Examine the most recent research on race and sentencing.
  
• When does race matter when it comes to sentencing?
  
• Explore sentencing and the War on Drugs.
  



Recommended Readings:



• 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.
• Alfred Blumstein and others. Research on Sentencing: The Search for Reform.
• 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.
  
  

  --- 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.
  
  

• 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.
  
  
• Desmond Tutu. No Future Without Forgiveness.
  
  

Course Syllabus for CRMJ/SOCA 365 "Race, Crime, Law"

takata@uwp.edu