AP/CRIM 3656 3.00

Punishment

Crosslisted: AP/SOSC 3656

This course examines theory and research on punishment. Notwithstanding the emergence of alternative visions of justice in western industrialized nations, when we think of punishment we tend to think of prisons. The nexus between prisons and punishment is remarkably resilient. The course will examine the prison-punishment nexus through critical engagement with a range of interdisciplinary empirical and theoretical literatures. Integral to any understanding of the way we punish is an understanding of the underlying assumptions relating to why we punish, how we punish, and how systems of punishment change over time and place. It is these broader analytical questions that frame this part of the course. Using this backdrop, the course will examine the emergence of alternative forms of justice which unsettle the prison-punishment nexus including community measures, restorative justice approaches, and abolitionism.