LAW 6245

Comparative Perspectives on Criminal Justice Reform

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

The United States maintains an historically distinct prison and correctional population due to both its size and the concentration of its application upon marginalized groups. This course considers various economic, social, legal and political pressures mass incarceration places on criminal law's administration in the United States. It further examines several criminal legal reforms developed in this era from a comparative perspective. Students will consider the ways in which emergent criminal legal practices in the U.S. are unique - and not - in comparison to developments across Europe and Brazil.

Last 4 Terms Offered (None)

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and assess various legal issues that specific technologies raise when implemented in the United States.
• Understand how criminal law operates differently in different countries.
• Identify and evaluate different methods of analyzing controversial contemporary issues relating to criminal law.
• Identify and critically think about policy implications that arise in relation to the practical application of specific criminal justice reforms.

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