This is a survey course on mass incarceration with a specific focus on mass imprisonment in the U.S. beginning in the 1970 and 1980s. We will examine the rise and persistence of mass incarceration in the United States, organized around three central questions: What are the causes? What are the consequences? And how can we end it? In Part I of the course, we will explore competing explanations for the dramatic rise in incarceration in the U.S., drawing from a wide array of disciplines.

This is a survey course on mass incarceration with a specific focus on mass imprisonment in the U.S. beginning in the 1970 and 1980s. We will examine the rise and persistence of mass incarceration in the United States, organized around three questions: What are the causes? What are the consequences? And how can we end it? In Part I of the course, we will explore competing explanations for the dramatic rise in incarceration in the U.S., drawing from a wide array of disciplines.

This course examines how history, culture, language, politics, race, class and gender influence and reflect on law and legal practice across Latin America. Drawing on Latin American studies (an interdisciplinary field consisting of political science, anthropology, sociology, literature, indigenous studies, and the like), we contextualize the making of law, its transformation, and application of law from colonial times to the present.

This course examines the critical role that the Supreme Court has played in shaping the landscape of rights and liberties in the United States over time. We begin with a discussion about the power and potential of textual rights protections. Then, we examine the historic rise of an organizational structure that supported legal mobilization to protect individual rights in the United States, and learn about why certain rights were protected before others.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.

Interdisciplinary exploration of basic issues of law's relationship to contemporary society, in which law affects almost all human activity. Topics include the nature as well as historical and social functions of law; the culture and role of major actors in the legal system (lawyers, judges, juries, police, technology); tension between ideals and realities in law; role of law in addressing contemporary social problems.