Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Justice Reform

Catalog description

The United States maintains an historically distinct prison and correctional population due to both its size and the concentration of its application upon marginalized groups. This course considers various economic, social, legal and political pressures mass incarceration places on criminal law's administration in the United States. It further examines several criminal legal reforms developed in this era from a comparative perspective. Students will consider the ways in which emergent criminal legal practices in the U.S. are unique - and not - in comparison to developments across Europe and Brazil.