This course invites students to engage in an interdisciplinary examination of one of U.S. society’s most enduring conflicts – the struggle to achieve an acceptable balance between state power to prevent and control crime, and the rights of individuals to be free from undue government coercion. Within the context of the structures and processes of the criminal justice system, students will investigate a select number of critical policy issues/problems, and ponder questions about the legitimacy of the criminal law method of social control. Against a brief introductory background to some of the major criminal justice policies and practices, students will have the opportunity to question their effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness, and to increase their skill in being able to articulate reasoned, logical, and evidence-based grounds for their conclusions and opinions. Key questions include: How well is society doing in its efforts to prevent/control crime? How do those efforts rate in terms of securing a just balance between the rights of individuals and the coercive powers of the government? Are we doing things right? Are we doing the right things? What improvements should be made? How can we know/decide? (This is an Honors course.) Note: This course fulfills the U.S. Society (GU) requirement for students under GenEd and American Culture (AC) for students under Core.
Students cannot receive credit for this course if they have successfully completed CRM JUS 0852.