Sociology of Crime and PunishmentSOC 231PAC 104

Tues-Thurs 10:30-11:50amFall 2014

Instructor: Kerwin KayeEmail: kkaye@wesleyan.eduOffice: PAC 105Office Hours: Tuesdays 8-10am and by appointment

Class DescriptionThis course begins with a critical overview of the rise of mass incarceration in the U.S. since 1973, while situating the present situation within a broader historical context. Following this, we will review a number of theories of crime that sociologists have put forward, looking also at the “uneven crime decline” that U.S. society has experienced since the mid-1990s. This focus constitutes the first half of the course, and takes us up to the Fall Break. Following the break, the course turns toward a series of distinct topics, all coordinated around themes of gender, race, and class. Media images, ideas femininity in relation to street crime, issues pertaining to domestic violence, and experiences of imprisonment will all be addressed. Lastly, we will examine drug treatment courts, the topic of my own research. While a number of analytic questions regarding criminality and crime control will be raised within the course (e.g., how has crime and crime control changed over time, and how can we best account for these changes?), the question of justice within the criminal justice system will remain a close focus throughout.

Course RequirementsThere are five requirements for the class:

—attend all classes and be prepared to discuss the assigned readings—five short response papers in relation to the reading (1-2 pages each)—a short paper analyzing media depiction of crime (3-4 pages)—a mid-term exam (in-class)—a final paper — (8-10 pages; also an initial proposal, annotated bibliography, and

classroom presentation)

Response Papers are due the night before class, no later than 9pm— the first response (to Michelle Alexander) paper is due Monday, September 8th

— you select the dates of the other four response papers

Grading

Class participation: 20%Five short response papers: 5% (each)Media evaluation 20%Mid-term Exam: 20%Final Paper: 35%

Key Dates

Monday, Sept. 8th (no later than 9pm): First Response Paper dueThursday, September 18th: Topic Proposals for Final Paper dueTuesday, October 14th: Annotated bibliography for final paper due (4-5 relevant sources)Thursday, October 16th: MidtermThursday, October 30th: Media Evaluation Assignment DistributedThursday, November 20th: NO CLASS (professor at conference)Tuesday, November 25th: Media Evaluation DueThursday, November 27th: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving Break)Thursday, December 4th: Presentation of Final PapersFriday, December 12th, 5pm: Final papers due

Paper Guidelines

All papers should be well organized and proof-read. Please double-space all of your papers, and use one inch margins. Please use Times New Roman (12 point) as your font. If you email me your paper, send it both as an attached file and with the text pasted into the body of the email (in case I have difficulty with the attachment). Plagiarism will not be excused; if in doubt, provide a citation.

Use of Electronic Devices within the Classroom

Use of electronic devices is not allowed. Permission will be granted in exceptional cases.

Disability Resources

I am happy to accommodate concerns regarding disabilities. Wesleyan also asks that the following statement be included on all course syllabi:

Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible.

If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey in Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call 860-685-5581 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.

Required Texts (available at Broad Street Books)Alexander, Michelle. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of

Colorblindness. The New Press: New York, NY. Vitale, Alex. 2008. City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed

New York City Politics. NYU Press: New York, NY.Kerman, Piper. 2011. Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison. Spiegel

& Grau: New York, NY.

Schedule and Assigned Readings

Week 1: Introduction, The Rise of Mass Incarceration

Tuesday, September 2nd: Course Overview

Thursday, September 4th: Flamm, Michael. 2005. Law and Order, pp. 1-7, 31-8, 51-2, 58-60, 162-3, 173-5,

181-5 (28 pgs)

Still image from the documentary Broken on All Sides

Michael Flamm

Week 2: Mass Incarceration and Race

Tuesday, September 9th:Alexander, The New Jim Crow, pp. 1-57 (57 pgs)First response paper due Monday, September 8th, no later than 9pm

Thursday, September 11th:Alexander, The New Jim Crow, pp. 58-94, 173-208 (73 pgs)

Crowding in California Prisons

Michelle Alexander

Week 3: Explaining Mass Imprisonment

Tuesday, September 16th:Wacquant, Loïc. 2009 [2001]. “Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison

Meet,” in Key Readings in Criminology, pp. 759-65 (6 pgs)Vitale, City of Disorder, pp. 1-14, 29-53 (40 pgs)

Thursday, September 18th:Vitale, City of Disorder, pp. 93-114, 115-24, 139-43, 183-94 (48 pgs)Topic Proposals for Final Paper due

Loïc Wacquant Alex Vitale

Harrisburg, PA

Week 4: Life Under Mass Incarceration

Tuesday, September 23rd:Fine, Michelle et al. 2003. “‘Anything Can Happen with Police Around’: Urban

Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Journal of Social Issues, pp. 141-58 (15 pgs)

Rios, Victor. 2006. “The Hyper-Criminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration,” Souls, 8(2): 40-54 (13 pgs)

Clear, Todd. 2007. Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Make Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse, pp. 121-48 (28 pgs)

Thursday, September 25th:Goffman, Alice. 2014. On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, pp. 55-90,

195-204 (56 pgs)

Michelle Fine Victor Rios

Todd Clear Alice Goffman

Week 5: The Development of “Crime” / Theories of Crime I

Tuesday, September 30th:Michalowski, Raymond. 1985. Order, Law, and Crime, pp. 49-84 (32 pgs)Durkheim, Emile. 1964 [1893]. The Division of Labor in Society, The Free Press:

New York; pp. 70-80, 87-9 (14 pgs)

Thursday, October 2nd:Shaw, Clifford, and Henry McKay. 2011 [1942]. “Juvenile Delinquency and

Urban Areas,” in Criminological Theory: Past to Present, 4 th edition , pp. 98-104 (7 pgs)

Anderson, Elijah. 2011 [1994]. “The Code of the Street,” in Criminological Theory: Past to Present, pp. 143-54 (12 pgs)

Kelling, George and Bratton, William. 2012 [1998]. “Declining Crime Rates,” in Taking Sides, pp. 288-97 (9 pgs)

Merton, Robert. 1999 [1938]. “Social Structure and Anomie,” in Criminological Theory: Past to Present, pp. 123-9 (7 pgs)

Bourgois, Philippe. 1996. “In Search of Masculinity,” British Journal of Criminology, 36(3): 412-27 (14 pgs)

Émile Durkheim Clifford Shaw Robert Merton

Week 6: Theories of Crime II

Tuesday, October 7th: Beccaria, Cesare. 1994 [1764]. “On Crimes and Punishments,” in Classics of

Criminology, Second Edition, pp. 277-86 (8 pgs)Katz, Jack. 1988. Seductions of Crime, pp. 178-87 (10 pgs)Pfohl, Stephen. 1994. Images of Deviance & Social Control, Second Edition, pp.

85-97 (11 pgs)Robinson, Laurie and Jeff Slowikowski. 2011. “Scary and Ineffective,” The

Baltimore Sun, January 31 (2 pgs)

Thursday, October 9th:Lemert, Edwin. 2011 [1952]. “Primary and Secondary Deviance,” in

Criminological Theory: Past to Present, pp. 249-52 (4 pgs)Chambliss, William. 1973. “The Saints and the Roughnecks,” in Deviance: The

Interactionist Perspective, pp. 186-94 (9 pgs)Braithwaite, John. 2011 [1989]. “Crime, Shame, and Reintegration,” in

Criminological Theory: Past to Present, pp. 253-61 (9 pgs)

Engels. Frederick. 1993 [1845]. “The Demoralization of the English Working Class,” in Crime and Capitalism: Readings in Marxist Criminology; pp. 48-50 (3 pgs)

Currie, Elliot. 1997. “Crime in Market Society,” in Criminological Theory: Past to Present, pp. 288-300 (12 pgs)

Websdale, Neil. 2001. Policing the Poor, pp. 150-9 (10 pgs).

Rios, Victor. 2012. “Stealing a Bag of Potato Chips and Other Crimes of Resistance,” Contexts, 11(1): 48-53 (5 pgs)

Parenti, Christian. 2000. “Crime as Social Control,” Social Justice, 27(3): 43-9 (6 pgs)

Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) William Chambliss John Braithwaite

Week 7: Review and Midterm

Tuesday, October 14th: Catch-up / ReviewAnnotated bibliography for final paper due (4-5 relevant sources)

Thursday, October 16th:Midterm

Week 8: Media Representations I — Prison

Tuesday, October 21st:NO CLASS — Fall break!

Thursday, October 23rd:Kerman, Piper. 2011. Orange is the New Black (read entire book; focus on

descriptions of prison — for example, you can skip over material concerning her personal life)

Week 9: Media Representations II — Crime as Moral Panic? / Central Park Jogger

Tuesday, October 28th:Jimmie Reeves, 1998. “Re-Covering Racism: Crack Mothers, Reaganism, and

the Network News,” in Living Color: Race and Television in the United States, pp. 97-117 (18 pgs)

Critcher, Chas. 2011. “For a Political Economy of Moral Panics,” Crime, Media, Culture, pp. 259-75 (15 pgs)

Valverde, Mariana. 2006. Law and Order, pp. 96-107, 115-31 (29 pgs)

Thursday, October 30th:Schanberg, Sydney. 2002. “A Journey Through the Tangled Case of the Central

Park Jogger,” Village Voice, November 19 (9 pgs)Hancock, Lynnell. 2003. “Wolf Pack: The Press and the Central Park Jogger,”

Columbia Journalism Review, 41(5): 38-42 (5 pgs)Smith, Valerie. 1994. “Split Affinities: The Case of Interracial Rape,” in

Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences, pp. 155-70 (14 pgs)

Little, Rivka Gewirtz. 2002. “Rage Before Race: How Feminists Faltered on the Central Park Jogger Case,” Village Voice, October 15 (3 pgs)

Little, Rivka Gewirtz. 2002. “Across 110th Street: Changed Lives Among Central Park Five Family Members,” Village Voice, November 5 (3 pgs)

Handout for Media Evaluation Assignment

Characters from Grand Auto Theft III

Week 10: Women as Offenders and as Victims

Tuesday, November 4th:Odem, Mary. 1992. “Fallen Women and Thieving Ladies: Historical Approaches

to Women and Crime in the United States” (book review), Law & Social Inquiry, 17(2): 351-61 (11 pgs)

Pollock, Joycelyn, and Sareta Davis. 2005. “The Continuing Myth of the Violent Female Offender,” Criminal Justice Review, 30(1): 5-29 (22 pgs)

Miller, Jody. 1998. “Up It Up: Gender and the Accomplishment of Street Robbery,” Criminology, 36(1): 37-66 (26 pgs)

Thursday, November 6th:Esther Madriz. Nothing Bad Happens to Good Girls: Fear of Crime in Women’s

Lives, pp. 10-19, 34-41, 67-93, 147-50 (49 pgs)

Week 11: Conceptualizing Domestic Violence

Tuesday, November 11th:Bumiller, Kristen. 2008. In An Abusive State: How Neoliberalism Appropriated

the Feminist Movement Against Sexual Violence, pp. 1-15 (15 pgs)Donna Coker, “Crime Control and Feminist Law Reform in Domestic Violence

Law: A Critical Review,” Buffalo Criminal Law Review, 4: 801-60. No need to read footnotes. (36 pgs)

Bhattacharjee, Anannya. 2002. “Private Fists and Public Force: Race, Gender, and Surveillance,” in Policing the National Body, pp. 14-7 (3 pgs)

Thursday, November 13th:Sokoloff, Natalie, and Ida Dupont. 2005. “Domestic Violence at the Intersections

of Race, Class, and Gender,” Violence Against Women, 11: 38-64 (22 pgs)Dutton, Mary Ann. 1996. “Critique of the ‘Battered Woman Syndrome,” National

Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women (4 pgs)Rothenberg, Bess. 2002. “The Success of the Battered Women Syndrome: An

Analysis of How Cultural Arguments Succeed,” Sociological Forum, 17(1): 81-103 (20 pgs)

Week 12: Prosecution

Tuesday, November 18th:Davis, Angela. 2007. Arbitrary Justice: The Power of the American Prosecutor,

pp. 3-41, 179-94 (55 pgs)

Thursday, November 20th:NO CLASS — (conference presentation - American Society for Criminology)

Week 13: Imprisonment — Litigation and Supermax Prisons

Tuesday, November 25th:Midgley, John. “Prison Litigation 1950-2000,” in Prison Nation: The

Warehousing of America’s Poor, pp. 281-300 (18 pgs)Henningsen, Rodney, et al. 2011 [1999]. “Supermax Prisons: Panacea or

Desperation?” in Correctional Contexts, pp. 78-85 (7 pgs)Stickrath, Thomas, and Gregory Bucholtz. 2006 [2003]. “Supermaximum

Security Prisons are Necessary,” in America’s Prisons: Opposing Viewpoints, pp. 89-92 (4 pgs)

Rhodes, Lorna. 2002. “Psychopathy and the Face of Control in Supermax,” Ethnography, 3(4): 442-66 (17 pgs)

Rhodes, Lorna. 2005. “Pathological Effects of the Supermaximum Prison,” American Journal of Public Health, 95(10): 1692-5 (4 pgs)

Media Evaluation Due

Thursday, November 27th:Thanksgiving Break

Week 14: Drug Courts / Class Presentations

Tuesday, December 2nd:Tiger, Rebecca. 2011. “Drug Courts and the Logic of Coerced Treatment,”

Sociological Forum, 26(1): 169-82 (12 pgs)Kaye, Kerwin. 2013. “Rehabilitating the ‘Drugs Lifestyle’: Criminal Justice,

Social Control, and the Cultivation of Agency,” Ethnography, 14(2): 207-32 (43 pgs).

Thursday, December 4th:Presentation of Final Paper Topics

Final papers due: Friday, December 12th, 5pm