Prep
I think my instructions for 11/3 were muddled, unfortunately–you were meant to read the first half of Chapter 6 in our textbook by then. In any event, you need to read Chapter 6 of our textbook (‘Crime and Punishment’), review the assigned audiovisual material, and then weigh in on Slack.
- Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer (2016), Ch. 6 (‘Crime and Punishment’): ‘Crime’; ‘Punishment’; ‘Things Are Not What They Seem’
- Video: 13th (Ava DuVernay, 2016 [1:40:42]). Netflix has apparently made this available for free on YouTube.
- Audio: ‘Legal Scholar: Jim Crow Still Exists In America’
(2012)
- HW: A young man is found guilty of possessing 5 grams of crack cocaine and is therefore eligible to serve a minimum sentence of five years in prison. This is his first offense. Assuming the role of the judge with absolute sentencing powers—and pretending for a moment that judges are not bound by draconian mandatory minimum sentencing cues—offer an alternative to incarceration. That is, what other punishment, besides prison, might be suitable in this case? And why would it be preferable to the conventional sentence of incarceration? (Verbatim from Desmond and Emirbayer 2016:243). Review the assigned material and post your response in the #discussion-prompts channel I’ve just created on our Slack workspace.
- Attendance
- Review: Last Week’s Asynchronous Work
- Q&A: Crime and Punishment
- Reading Notes for Next Time
For Next Time
- Kay S. Hymowitz, ‘Did Mass Incarceration Destroy the Black Family?’, City Journal (Summer 2015)
