PAM 2610 - [Orange is the New Black]

(crosslisted) AMST 2615, SOC 2610

Fall. Next offered 2018-2019. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: PAM 2030. Recommended Prerequisites: PAM 2100, PAM 2101, PAM 2220, PAM 2350, PAM 3150.

C. Wildeman.

In a 2015 speech, President Barack Obama described the the American criminal justice system as hopefully broken, with prison conditions so abominable that they had no place in the civilized world. In her 2010 book, Michelle Alexander went one step further and called mass incarceration The New Jim Crow. In this course, we will explore why mass incarceration came to be, what the consequences of locking up literally millions of Americans every year are, and what other policies might better address crime.

Outcome 1: Balance evidence from a range of sources including documentaries, ethnographies, and quantitative research.

Outcome 2: Critically think through a host of possible responses to crime.

Outcome 3: Engage in lively discussions.