Sociology - Prison, Punishment, & Society

Catalog description

This course examines the formal legal institutions for punishing criminal offenders and their outcomes for supervised populations. Students will use a punishment and society perspective to investigate the latest trends in criminal justice policy and institutional and community supervision with a focus on adult men's and women's prisons. Students will critique key issues in corrections, such as mass incarceration, life without parole, solitary confinement, and the death penalty. The course explores the implications of carceral citizenship for social inequalities, mental illness, and disease and the challenges of reducing recidivism and improving reintegration.