Cornell University Registrar

Program Description

Students in the Crime, Prisons, Education, and Justice minor will participate in one of the most pressing civil rights challenges of the 21st century: ending mass incarceration and the carceral state.

The University has a longstanding relationship with the Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP). For many years, Cornell faculty and graduate students have enjoyed the privilege of teaching some of the most eager, appreciative, and thoughtful students they will ever encounter: the men participating in the CPEP programs in New York prisons. As part of the minor, students will serve as Teaching Assistants for Cornell classes in the prisons.

The minor thus teaches what no classroom experience can impart: that knowledge is intrinsically valuable, and that all human beings can be redeemed. It is civic engagement with a profound moral purpose that leads to a rare degree of cultural competence. Adding the classroom component of minor will give the students the opportunity for extended critical reflection on the complex phenomena of mass incarceration and the carceral state, and to integrate their learning in a real-world setting that is all too common for all too many: the American prison.

Academic Standards

Grade Requirements

Each course must be completed with a grade of C+ or better to count toward the minor. 

Minor Declaration Information 

Submit an enrollment application to the Undergraduate Field Coordinator, Danielle O'Connor in the Government Department.

Obtain final approval from the Minor's Faculty Director, Joe Margulies.

Program Information

• Minimum Credits for Minor: 15

Minor Requirements

To satisfy the requirements of the minor, a student must:

• Complete 5 qualifying, interdisciplinary courses. Since this minor is interdisciplinary, students may not take all five courses from the same department.
• Successfully complete GOVT 3121 Crime and Punishment, GOVT 3141 Prisons (Distance Learning course), or GOVT 3152  Prisons, Politics and Policy.
• Successfully complete GOVT 3142 , EDUC 3142 Reflecting on the Intersections of Education and Prison Systems , PMA 4681 Cages and Creativity: Arts in Incarceration, or another class that includes an opportunity for extended reflection on the complexity of working with people who are justice-involved, subject to approval by the minor’s Faculty Director. 
• All students must complete an engagement requirement. Participation in any of the following programs can fulfill this requirement: Teaching Assistant for the Cornell Prison Education Program (must be 21 years old to participate); participation in the Cornell University Parole Initiative; or participation in other Cornell-based projects or a project designed by the student, subject to approval by the faculty director.

Students may tailor the minor for their particular academic and career goals. See the program website for a list of courses that may be taken to complete the minor.