Sara Matthiesen
Brown University
Discipline(s): American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Crime and Justice Studies, History
Syllabus Last Updated: September, 2016
Growing interest in mass incarceration has brought new attention to longstanding critiques of the criminal justice system. This course looks beyond failings such as “tough on crime” sentencing and racist policing to examine criminal justice as a system that defines and produces criminality. Specifically, we will examine criminalization as a social, political, and cultural process that not only makes certain bodies “criminal,” but also reinforces dominant beliefs about gender, sexuality, and sex. We will explore theories of criminality, methods of policing and imprisonment, rehabilitation initiatives, and prison activism through an intersectional lens.
