Punishment and Corrections

Catalog description

This course explores the nature, forms, rationales, and effectiveness of punishment as a form of crime control. It traces the development of corrections in the U.S., identifies cultural trends and developments in penology, including mass incarceration and supermax prisons, considers the ways race and class have shaped these, and the reverberating effects penal policies have had on American culture and society beyond the criminal justice system. It examines the role of laws, politics, crime control agencies, as well as of media, and corporations in shaping penal policies. Topics also include: prison subcultures, inmate rights, correctional practices, privatization of prisons, and alternatives to punitive policies of incarceration and capital punishment.