This CGS hybrid course combines web-based interaction and synchronous instruction. Students need to be available for virtual online meetings during designated class times and participate in asynchronous discussions and activities delivered through the CANVAS learning management system (LMS). Students must have reliable internet access to take this course. Students complete the course requirements within one term and move through the course materials as a cohort.
This course examines the relationships between law and values, law and power, law and discretion. The nature of legal reasoning is illustrated and analyzed as it is applied to statutory law, case law, and constitutional law. Focusing on the United States, this course examines the relationship between law and politics both in general and with respect to specific substantive topics. Substantive topics this semester will include low-level (misdemeanor) crime and police use of force. As we study these topics, we will observe the relationship between the criminal justice system, poverty and race. We will examine the rights of the criminally accused and consider whether they are adequately protected by the justice system. We will examine police use of force and ask whether the law provides adequate protection for and guidance to both police and citizens. For each topic, we will do a deep dive into ¿case studies¿ which will allow us to examine in greater depth the intersection of criminal justice, policing, race and poverty as we see how law and policy play out in real world encounters. For our first topic, low-level crime, we will delve into the nitty-gritty inner-workings of the New York lower court system through Yale Professor Issa Kohler-Hausmann Misdemeanorland. We will peer into the criminal justice experience of misdemeanor criminal defendants and the law and politics involved therein. For our second topic, police use of force, we will consider two cases: the violent arrest of Erimius Spencer and the fatal shooting of R.J. Williams. We will interrogate the legality of the police actions, try to discern factors that may have led to their occurrence, and assess the fall-out from the violence. Finally, for each topic we will ask ¿Can we do better?¿ and we will consider the suggestions of scholars who argue both that we can and we should.
The planned operational modality for this class is REMOTE. For more information please visit http://www.provost.pitt.edu/students/student-success-flexpitt/flex-pitt-guarded-risk-posture-all-students-remote/