Description
This course explores the role of law, legislation, prosecution and the courts within the criminal justice system. It examines legal elements of crime; how crimes are prosecuted and defended; types and classes of crime; sentencing; alternatives to prosecution and incarceration; juvenile delinquency and prosecution of minors; victims’ services and restorative justice; and social functions of law. The overrepresentation of low-income, Black and Brown people in the criminal justice system is emphasized, and how race and class inform policing, prosecution, sentencing and punishment.