CJST 3355 - Criminal Legal System Injustices: A Macro-level Analysis

Prerequisite: CJST 3340. Discriminatory hiring practices, police brutality, wrongful convictions, contemptuous responses to rape victims, and the cash bail system are some examples of injustices in the criminal legal system. These injustices are the end results of a series of macro-level calculations. Factors such as the distortion and manipulation of political and economic power, along with resistance to an egalitarian democracy create opportunities for individual acts of injustice. This course pulls back the lens to consider how institutions collude to maintain power at the expense of equality, inclusion, and justice. Big picture concepts such as power, justice, oppression, fairness, legitimacy, decency, and corruption are discussed. 3 credits.