73.610

Justice and Public Policy

Prof. Deirdre Golash
Spring 1997

Study questions for final exam

• Class hours: Th 5:30-8:00 pm, Ward 7
• Office hours: WTh 8-9 pm; MTh 12:35-1:35 pm; Tu 10-12 am
• Office: Ward 219A
• Phone: 885-2955 (call anytime; you can leave a message if I am not in)
• e-mail: dgolash@american.edu

Course Description

This course examines policy issues in the administration of justice. We will examine the principles and practical considerations underlying current policies and consider the need and prospects for reform in specific policy areas.

Requirements

• All students are expected to attend class and to be prepared to discuss the readings.
• Each student will write four short papers on topics to be selected near the beginning of the semester. Papers must be submitted on the date due.
• There will be a final exam.

Books and materials

• Abadinsky, Law and Justice
• Duff & Garland, Punishment
• Case Packet
• Article Packet
• Handouts
• Class attendance and participation - 10%
• Papers - each 15%
• Exam - 30%

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

• Reading assignments are subject to change (in content as well as timing). Changes will be announced in class; contact me for the assignment if you miss a class.

Jan 16 - Introduction

The Judicial Process

Jan 23

• Background reading: Abadinsky, Law and Justice, chs. 4, 5, 6
• Ch. 4, The Judicial Branch: State and Federal Courts
• Ch. 5, The Key Actors: Judges, Prosecutors, and Attorneys
• Ch. 6, The Criminal Court Process
• For discussion:
• Luban, Why Have an Adversary System? [Handout] Leff, Law and [Handout]

Jury selection

Jan 30 - Feb. 6

• Strauder v. West Virginia
• Swain v. Alabama
• Taylor v. Louisiana
• Batson v. Kentucky
• J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B.

Punishment

Feb. 6

• Duff & Garland, Introduction (pp.1-34)
• Murphy, Marxism and Retribution (44-70)
• Feinberg, The Expressive Function of Punishment
• Morris, A Paternalistic Theory of Punishment

Feb. 20

• von Hirsch, Censure and Proportionality
• Tonry, Proportionality, Parsimony, and Interchangeability of Punishments

Feb. 27

• Wilson, Penalties and Opportunities 174-211
• Walker, Reductivism and Deterrence, 212-217
• Mathiesen, General Prevention as Communication, 218-237

March 6

• Morris, ‘Dangerousness' and Incapacitation
• Hirst, the Concept of Punishment

Insanity defense

March 20-27

• Perlin, The Jurisprudence of the Insanity Defense
• Heilbroner, Rough Justice (excerpts)

Spring Break

Plea bargaining

March 27

• Abadinsky, ch. 8
• Bordenkircher v. Hayes
• Kipnis, Criminal Justice and the Negotiated Plea
• Church, In Defense of "Bargain Justice"
• John H. Langbein, Torture and Plea Bargaining

Racism in the justice system

April 3-10

• Miller, Search and Destroy (excerpts)
• Willbanks, The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System (excerpts)
• Sampson and Wilson, Toward a Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality

Recommended:

• Sampson and Lauritsen, Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Crime and Criminal Justice in the United States
• Farnsworth, et al., Ethnic, Racial and Minority Disparity in Felony Court Processing

Civil forfeiture

April 17-24

• Cheh, Can Something this Easy, Quick, and Profitable Also Be Fair?
• Holmes, Forfeiture Achieves Proper Purposes by Appropriate Means

April 24

• No class

May 1

• Review
• Final exam distributed

May 5

• Final exams due
• Class attendance and participation - 10%
• Papers - each 15%
• Exam - 30%