LS 403 - Crime and Public Policy

Public policy responses to crime includes patterns in police decision making about what constitutes a crime, expert and lay theories on the causes of crime, political pronouncements on what to do about criminal offenders, and beliefs about the purposes of incarceration, amongst other formal and informal facets of the criminal justice system. Focusing on the experience of marginalized groups such as youth, women, and racialized persons, this course will help students develop a critical understanding of the ways in which public policy responses to crime can reproduce wider patterns of discrimination in society, especially those pertaining to race and Indigeneity. Through examination of current research in this area students will gain reflexive analytical skills to critically evaluate the relationship between the law and inequality.