SOCI7001
Criminal justice: Process and politics
Offer semester
Lecture time
Lecture venue
Credits awarded
2nd semester
Friday
19:00-21:50
CPD-2.14
6
Criminal justice is the moral and social philosophy of crime and justice that societies use to create formal mechanisms for enforcing laws, adjudicating criminal offences, and delivering prescribed outcomes for criminal conduct. In other words, a criminal justice system is the process by which justice is delivered to those who a society has deemed “criminals”—and this process comes about through the moral and social politics of a society as it determines how to maintain a just state.
This course will provide a critical overview of what criminal justice is, the politics surrounding criminal justice, and the actors and means by which justice is delivered. The course will cover topics and areas in which criminal justice systems struggle to deliver justice in ways that their societies consider just and measured, and it will conclude with discussions on how to go beyond the traditional notion of criminal justice. Throughout the course, an underlying discussion will involve a critical interrogation of how many societies—including Hong Kong and mainland China—have been shaped by Western ideals of justice and will consider whether those ideals actually render the above-said issues unresolvable.
The course will cover topics that are both local and global to reflect on how crime and its control are locally situated as well as more broadly impacted by “global” ideals and forces.
Develop Personal Positions on Criminal Justice Topics: Argue their positions pertaining to criminal justice policies and processes with sensitivity to theoretical debates around those positions.
Understand and Critically Assess Criminal Justice Policies: Examine recent developments in criminal justice and assess them against other rationales for crime control and criminal justice policies.
Be Versed in Major Criminal Justice Debates and Topics: Demonstrate a clear understanding of major issues in criminal justice systems around the world, especially Hong Kong and mainland China.
Tasks
Weighting
Individual Topical Essay
30%
Group Presentation on Local Topics
30%
Written Examination
40%
Farmer, L. (2018). Civility, obligation and criminal law. In D. Matthews & S. Veitch (Eds.), Law, Obligation, Community. (Ch. 10). Routledge.
Wozniak, K. H. (2016). Public opinion and the politics of criminal justice policy making: Reasons for optimism, pessimism, and uncertainty. Criminology & Public Policy, 15, 179.
Ericson, R. V., & Haggerty, K. D. (1997). Chapter 1: Introduction. Policing the Risk Society. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Rakoff, J. S. (2017). Why prosecutors rule the criminal justice system—And what can be done about it. Northwestern University Law Review, 111(6), 1429–1436.
Aharoni, E., Kleider-Offutt, H. M., Brosnan, S. F., & Hoffman, M. B. (2022). Nudges for Judges: An Experiment on the Effect of Making Sentencing Costs Explicit. Frontiers in Psychology, 13
Lu, H., & Zhang, L. (2005). Death penalty in China: The law and the practice. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33(4), 367-376.
Alden, E. (2017). Is border enforcement effective? What we know and what it means. Journal of Migration and Human Security, 5(2), 481–490.
Peng, Y. & Cheng, J. (2022). Ethnic disparity in Chinese theft sentencing: A modified focal concerns perspective. China Review, 22(3), 47–71.
Gelles, R. J. (1977). Power, sex, and violence: The case of marital rape. Family Coordinator, 339-347.
Holzer, K. J., AbiNader, M. A. , Vaughn, M. G., Salas-Wright, C. P., & Oh, S. (2022). Crime and violence in older adults: Findings from the 2002 to 2017 national survey on drug use and health. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(1–2), 764–781.
Carver, L., Morley, S., & Taylor, P. (2017). Voices of deficit: mental health, criminal victimization, and epistemic injustice. Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 25(1), 43–62.
Scott, D. (2014). Beyond criminal justice. In J. M. Moore, B. Rolston, D. Scott & M. Tomlinson. Beyond Criminal Justice: An Anthology of Abolitionist Papers. (1–12). European Press Group.
Confucius. (2016). The Analects (1st ed.). Open Road Media.
Cohen, S. (2011). Folk Devils and Moral Panics: the Creation of the Mods and Rockers (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. Sage.
Merton, R. K. (1968). Social Theory and Social Structure (1968 enl. ed.). Free Press.
Braithwaite, J. (2004). Restorative Justice and De-Professionalization. The Good Society, 13(1), 28–31.’
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Vintage Books.
Shaw, C. R., & McKay, H. D. (1969). Juvenile delinquency and urban areas : a study of rates of delinquency in relation to differential characteristics of local communities in American cities (Rev. ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2007). The Philadelphia Negro : A Social Study. Oxford University Press.
Broidy, L., & Agnew, R. (1997). Gender and crime: a General Strain Theory perspective. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 34(3), 275–306.
Cohen, L. E., & Felson, M. (1979). Social change and crime rate trends: a routine activity approach. American Sociological Review, 44(4), 588–608.
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and individual differences: a natural science approach. Plenum Press.
Karstedt, S. (2002). Emotions and criminal justice. Theoretical Criminology, 6(3), 299–317.
Offer Semester | Lecture Day | Lecture Time | Venue | Credits awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2nd semester | Friday | 19:00-21:50 | CPD-2.14 | 6 |
