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Criminal Justice and Inequality (300-level)
This course explores how the criminal justice system manages, creates, and perpetuates inequality. We examine the historical role criminal justice institutions have played in criminalizing and punishing racialized people and their intersecting identities. Attention is given to the multiple techniques and processes through which the criminal justice system perpetuates inequality. Using an intersectional perspective, we critically analyze the growing links between the criminal justice system and other government and non-governmental institutions. Finally, we discuss how communities respond and resist the criminal justice system.
Education and the Criminal Justice System (300-level)
This course explores how the criminal justice system has made its way into classrooms and schools. We examine the historical role of the education system in the disproportionate practices of control and punishment against Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other racialized youth in North American schools. Attention will be given to the criminalizing techniques schools employ, such as zero-tolerance policies, expulsion, and suspension, which contribute to the incarceration of youth. Using an intersectional perspective, we critically analyze the growing links between schooling, policing, juvenile detention centres, and other criminal justice institutions. Finally, we discuss the resistance and refusal of students, teachers, and communities to the criminalization of education.
Policing and Security (200-level)
The social outcry to defund and abolish the police have questioned the once seemingly accepted fact that police forces and policing are necessary for society to function. This course engages with these calls for defunding and abolition by examining the nature of policing and security in Canada and other countries of the Western hemisphere. The course explores the constitutive role of policing and security in constructing and reproducing the social order. Attention is given to the origins, structure, and function of policing. We also focus on topics such as police culture and subculture, oversight and accountability, and modes of policing. We learn from the experiences of those who are policed and reflect on the debates concerning alternatives to policing. We employ different sources (academic and non-academic readings, podcasts, and short documentaries) to learn about how policing and security notions are discussed and portrayed in different spaces. This course has an applied writing skills component. Students are expected to work on their writing and present a research paper.