Excessive Force: State Violence, Vigilantism, and the History of "Law and Order" America

Catalog description

During the summer of 2020, the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others at the hands of police sparked protests across the United States and around the world. Many activists insisted upon viewing these popular uprisings in historical terms, suggesting the violence endemic to the contemporary criminal legal system is rooted in the history of antebellum era slave patrols. This course further explores that idea by tracing the history of state violence and extralegal vigilantism from the colonial period to the present. Whether carried out by duly constituted authorities or ordinary citizens, by force or in its apparent absence, conceptions of legal order have played an instrumental role throughout U.S. history. Covering topics ranging from citizen’s arrest laws to Broken Windows policing, our aim will be to approach “law enforcement” as an essentially political process that's changed over time.