CJ 266 : RACE & JUSTICE

In this course we will use a justice perspective to explore issues of race and ethnicity in the United States, with particular emphasis on the racialized effects of the criminal justice system. We will begin with the social construction of race and ethnicity and the historical roots of racial and ethnic categories in the US. We will then trace shifts in racial and ethnic categorization to the present day and explore their intersections across class, gender, and place. In doing so, we will examine the creation and evolution of the criminal justice system as a system of racialized social control, and examine the influence that the criminal justice system wields on other social institutions such as the labor market, housing market, immigration system, educational system, and the family. Throughout the course we will analyze how broader social inequalities are (re)produced according to racial and ethnic classification, the role of the media in promoting and perpetuating various racialized narratives, and we will discuss and critique methods of addressing contemporary forms of discrimination, prejudice, and institutional racism in the criminal justice system and beyond.