Crime and Punishment in America

This is an introductory lecture course on American legal history from the nation's founding to the present, with a special focus on the criminal legal system's relationship to policing and punishment. Students examine how law has shaped society and public policy, and the ways that the law has been used to disenfranchise certain groups while empowering others. Topics include mass incarceration, voting laws, labor regulations, border enforcement, and the war on drugs. The course also considers legal reform, litigation, and social movements that have challenged unjust laws and imagined alternative approaches to justice. Includes a research component focused on local legal history and criminal justice in Durham and North Carolina.