SOCY 4054: Law and Society Syllabus
Spring 2006
Humanities B190
T and Th. 3:30-4:45
S. David Mitchell
University of Colorado, Boulder
208 Ketchum, Off. Hrs: T and Th. 12:00-1:30 and by appt.
Ph. 303-492-7681
E-mail: David.Mitchell@Colorado.Edu
It has been said that respect for the law, in a democracy, has derived from the fact that the law expressed the will of the citizens...But how could this hold good for the minority?
-- Emile Durkheim
Equality before the law does not describe the actual operation of any known legal system, past or present.
-- Donald Black
I. Introduction
Law is a common and yet distinct element of daily life in modern societies, and not only shapes society but is also shaped by society. The creation, interpretation, and enforcement of laws occur in the context of historical changes, societal norms, and the subjective concerns and whims of those charged with its creation. Utilizing an interdisciplinary perspective, the course will explore the nature of law as a set of social systems, central actors in the systems, legal reasoning, and the relationship of the legal form and reasoning to social change. By the end of the course, students should be better able to evaluate law and legal institutions, especially in relation to equality, justice, and fairness, and understand how law is involved in the processes of social control, social conflict, and social change.
Students are expected to critically evaluate the material presented in class, including lectures, readings, presentations, and guest speakers. Students must frame their own thinking about the law in terms of different theories of law, take positions on legal questions and defend those positions in both oral and written form.
II. Course and University Policies
A. Students with Disabilities
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit a letter to me from Disability Services in a timely manner so that your needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Willard 322, or (www.Colorado.EDU/disabilityservices).
B. Sexual Harassment
The University of Colorado Policy on Sexual Harassment applies to all students, staff and faculty. Sexual harassment is unwelcome sexual attention. It can involve intimidation, threats, coercion, or promises or create an environment that is hostile or offensive. Harassment may occur between members of the same or opposite gender and between any combination of members in the campus community: students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Harassment can occur anywhere on campus, including the classroom, the workplace, or a residence hall. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been sexually harassed should contact the Office of Sexual Harassment (OSH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the OSH and the campus resources available to assist individuals who believe they have been sexually harassed can be obtained at: http://www.colorado.edu/sexualharassment/.
C. Religious Observances
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, students will be provided with an opportunity to take a makeup exam, at a mutually agreeable date, and hand in their papers on another date, if necessary.
D. Classroom Behavior
RESPECT. Students and faculty each have a responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the professional responsibility to treat students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which students express opinions.
Disagreements and statements of opinion are not only welcomed, but also strongly encouraged. Statements, however, should be made respectfully. As the law has protected classes, this classroom shall also be a safe place regardless of an individual’s race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, political ideology, ability, and any others that I may have forgotten.
E. The Honor Code
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion).
Honor Code Pledge: “On my honor as a University of Colorado at Boulder student I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance.”
III. Texts and Readings
A. Required Texts
Friedrichs, David O. Law in Our Lives (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury
Kairys, David. 1993. With Liberty and Justice for Some: A Critique of the Conservative Supreme Court. New York, NY: The New Press.
B. Required Readings
Abadinsky, Howard. 1995. Law and Justice: An Introduction to the American Legal System. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.
Alvarez, Ann Rosegrant. “Are Affirmative-Action Policies Increasing Equality in the Labor Market?” Controversial Issues in Social Policy (Allyn and Bacon, 2003).
Bork, Robert H. “Liberty and Terrorism: Avoiding a Police State,” Current (December 2003).
Brinkman, Jeffrey P. “Veney v. Wiche: Not in My Cell-The Constitutionality of Segregating Prisoners Based on Their Sexual Orientation,” Law & Sexuality (2003).
Buchanan, Patrick “Shields Up!” The American Enterprise (March 2002).
Cassell, Paul G. “Miranda’s ‘Negligible’ Effect on Law Enforcement: Some Skeptical Observations,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Winter 1997).
Coyle, Michael. “Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing,” The Sentencing Project (2002).
Crawford, Curtis. “Racial Preference Versus Nondiscrimination,” Society (March/April 2004).
Cruikshank, Barbara. “Feminism and Punishment,” Signs (Summer 1999).
Cullen, Francis T. et. al., “Crime and the Bell Curve: Lessons from Intelligent Criminology,” Crime and Delinquency (October 1997).
Dailey, Timothy J. “Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk,” Family Research Council (November 29, 2004).
Dority, Barbara. “Your Every Move,” The Humanist (January/February 2004).
Durkheim, Emile. The Rules of Sociological Method, (Free Press, 1938).
Feld, Barry C. “Abolish the Juvenile Court: Youthfulness, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing Policy,” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Fall 1997).
Feld, Barry C. Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court. (Oxford University Press, 1999).
Fisher, Louis. 2002. Religious Liberty in America: Political Safeguards. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Geraghty, Thomas F. “Justice for Children: How Do We Get There?” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Fall 1997).
Gordon, Jill. “Are Conjugal and Familial Visitations Effective Rehabilitative Concepts? Yes,” The Prison Journal (March 1999).
Gould, Jon B. “The Precedent That Wasn't: College Hate Speech Codes and the Two Faces of Legal Compliance.” Law and Society Review, 35 Law & Soc'y Rev. 345, 2001.
Herrnstein, Richard J. and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (Free Press, 1994).
Hull, Richard T. “The Case for Physician Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003).
Humphrey, Edith M. “What God Hath Not Joined: Why Marriage Was Designed for Male and Female,” Christianity Today, (September 2004).
Keen, Lisa and Suzanne B. Goldberg. 1998. Strangers to the Law: Gay People on Trial. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Kennedy, Randall. “The State, Criminal Law, and Racial Discrimination: A Comment,” Harvard Law Review.
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. “Talking about the Freedom to Marry: Why Same Sex-Sex Couples Should Have Equality in Marriage,” LLDEF website (June 20, 2001).
Lanier, Charles S. and James R. Acker. “Capital Punishment, The Moratorium Movement, and Empirical Questions: Looking Beyond Innocence, Race, and Bad Lawyering in Death Penalty Cases.” 10 Psych. Pub. Pol. and L. 577, December 2004.
Long, Billy. “Is the Segregation of HIV-Positive Inmates Ethical? No,” The Prison Journal (March 1999).
Lynch, Michael J. “Misleading ‘Evidence’ and the Misguided Attempt to Generate Racial Profiles of Criminals; Correcting Fallacies and Calculations Concerning Race and Crime in Taylor and Whitney’s Analysis of Racial Profiling,” Mankind Quarterly (Spring 2002).
Maher, Robin. “The Death Penalty and Reform in the United States.”
MacDonald, Heather, “The Myth of Racial Profiling,” City Journal (Spring 2001).
Massimino, Elisa. “Leading by Example? U.S. Interrogation of Prisoners in the War on Terror,” Criminal Justice Ethics (Winter 2004).
McConnell, Elizabeth H. “Are Conjugal and Familial Visitations Effective Rehabilitative Concepts? No,” The Prison Journal (March 1999).
Merton, Robert K. “Social Structure and Anomie,” American Sociological Review (volume 3, 1938).
Moher, Andrew A. “The Lesser of Two Evils? An Argument for Judicially Sanctioned Torture in a Post-9/11 World,” Thomas Jefferson Law Review (Spring 2004).
Moynihan, Daniel Patrick “Defining Deviancy Down,” The American Scholar (Winter 1993).
Murray, Charles “Affirmative Racism: How Preferential Treatment Works Against Blacks,” The New Republic (December 31, 1984).
Nadelmann, Ethan A. “An End to Marijuana Prohibition—The Drive to Legalize Picks Up,” National Review (July 12, 2004).
Nadelmann, Ethan A. Commonsense Drug policy,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 1998).
Ochberg, Frank M. “Quarantine Them Beyond Their Jail Terms,” The Washington Post (December 5, 1999).
Perrin, Ellen C. “Symposium: Adoption by Gay or Lesbian Couples,” Insight on the News (April 22, 2002).
Pincus, Fred L. “The Social Construction of Reverse Discrimination: The Impact of Affirmative Action on Whites,” Journal of Intergroup Relations (Winter 2001/2002).
Raine, Adrian. “The Biological Basis of Crime,” in James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilla, eds., Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control (ICS Press 2002).
Robinette, Penny A. “Is the Segregation of HIV-Positive Inmates Ethical? Yes,” The Prison Journal (March 1999).
Rosenzweig, Paul. “Civil Liberty and the Response to Terrorism.” Duquesne University Law Review, 42 Duq. L. Rev. 663, Summer 2004.
Schiraldi, Vincent and Jason Ziedenberg. “The Florida Experiment: An Analysis of the Impact of Granting Prosecutors Discretion to Try Juveniles As Adults (July 1999).
Schott, Richard G., “The Role of Race in Law Enforcement: Racial Profiling or Legitimate Use?” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001).
Schulhofer, Stephen J. “Bashing Miranda Is Unjustified – and Harmful,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Winter 1997).
Schulman, Sam. “Gay Marriage—and Marriage,” Commentary (November 2003).
Schwartz, Lara.. “Why Marriage?” Human Rights Campaign Publication.
Sloan, Virginia E. et al. “Gideon’s Unfulfilled Mandate: Time for a New Consensus,” Human Rights (Winter 2004).
Somerville, Margaret. “The Case against Physician Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003).
Staff Writer, “Too Poor to Be Defended,” The Economist (April 11, 1998).
Taylor, Jared and Glayde Whitney, “Racial Profiling: Is There an Empirical Basis?” Mankind Quarterly (Spring 2002).
van den Haag, Ernest. “The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense,” Harvard Law Review (May 1986).
Vanderzyl, Kari A., “Castration as an Alternative to Incarceration: An Important Approach to the Punishment of Sex Offenders,” The Northern Illinois University Law Review (Fall 1994).
Von Drehle, David. “Miscarriage of Justice: Why the Death Penalty Doesn’t Work,” The Washington Post Magazine (February 5, 1995).
Voth, Eric A. “America’s Longest ‘War,’” The World & I (February 2000).
Walters, John P. “No Surrender,” National Review (September 27, 2004).
Wattenberg, Ben “Immigration is Good,” The American Enterprise (March 2002).
Williams, Karen J. Veney v. Wiche, Fourth Circuit (2002).
Wright, Lawrence. “The Case for Castration,” Texas Monthly (May 1992).
Young, Cathy. “License to Kill: Men and Women, Crime and Punishment,” Reason Foundation (July 2004).
Zonana, Howard. “We’re Doctors—Not Judges, Juries, or Jailers,” The Washington Post (December 5, 1999).
NOTE: All readings can be found on Web CT.
C. WebCT
All of the readings and cases for the course can be found on WebCt. You will therefore need to make sure that your system is compatible and that you can access the material. If you need assistance, you can go to the following website (http://www.colorado.edu/its/webct/support.html).
D. Additional Resources
Terminology: http://dictionary.law.com/
Supreme Court: http://www.oyez.org/oyez/frontpage or http://www.supremecourthistory.org/
IV. Course Requirements
A. Attendance and Participation in Class Discussion
All students are expected to come to class prepared to participate. This means that you must read all assigned readings prior to the class for which they are assigned. Moreover, you must read them actively and critically; by the time you get to class, you should have a number of questions, arguments, and concerns to voice regarding that day's readings. You can expect to be challenged in the quality and quantity of assigned work and in classroom discussion. You should understand the requirements for each class, come to class prepared to engage in learning the course material, complete the assignments, and be prepared to learn from your successes and failures.
B. Exams
Examination dates are noted on the course syllabus, but if we deviate from that schedule I will give you at least one week notice before rescheduling an exam. All make-up examinations are given at my discretion.
The exams will consist of multiple-choice questions, true-false, fill in the blank, short answer, and / or essay. Exam questions are derived from all relevant material covered in the class. Reading the textbook and other assigned readings are essential for success in this class, however, class lectures will also have pertinent information and will contain material that is not in any of the readings.
In the event that a student has a truly exceptional circumstance or an “authorized absence,” a makeup exam or presentation may be possible, at the instructor’s discretion, provided the student notifies the instructor by email or in person before class, and the absence is documented in writing: a) by the student in the event of the death of a parent, spouse, sibling, grandparent, or child; b) by a doctor in the event of a medical emergency or hospitalization; or c) by the appropriate university representative in the event of a university-sponsored activity.
V. Grading
Class Participation (5%)
Exam (5 Quizzes) (20%)
Exam 1 (20%)
Exam 2 (25%)
Final Exam (30%)
Pagers, beepers, cell phones and the like are to be turned off during class.
VII. Assignment Schedule
Week 1 – Introduction
January 17 – Introduction
What is the Law? What is Society? What is Law and Society?
January 19 – Defining the Law
Friedrichs pp. 1-13; 29-30; 39-61; and 135-140
Week 2 – Theory
January 24 –
Friedrichs pp. 90-116 and 118-135
January 26 –
Friedrichs pp. 24-27; 31-39; 63-74; 150-165; 234-241; and 312-315
Week 3 – Types of Law
January 31 – Juvenile Law and Justice
Should the United States Abolish the Juvenile Court Systems?
Feld, Barry C. “Abolish the Juvenile Court: Youthfulness, Criminal Responsibility, and Sentencing Policy,” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Fall 1997), 255-265
Geraghty, Thomas F. “Justice for Children: How Do We Get There?” Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (Fall 1997), 266- 286
Should Juvenile Courts Be Abolished?
Feld, Barry C. Bad Kids: Race and the Transformation of the Juvenile Court. (Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 161-171.
Schiraldi, Vincent and Jason Ziedenberg. “The Florida Experiment: An Analysis of the Impact of Granting Prosecutors Discretion to Try Juveniles As Adults (July 1999), pp. 172-180.
Case In re Gault, 387 US 1 (1967)
February 2 – Civil Law and Justice
Abadinsky pp. 289-328
Can the Poor Receive Adequate Criminal Defense?
Sloan, Virginia E. et al. “Gideon’s Unfulfilled Mandate: Time for a New Consensus,” Human Rights (Winter 2004) pp. 242-246.
The Economist Staff Writer, “Too Poor to Be Defended,” The Economist (April 11, 1998) pp. 247-249.
Case Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
Week 4 – Crime
February 7 – Defining and Labeling Crime
Is Crime Always Functional?
Durkheim, Emile. The Rules of Sociological Method, (Free Press, 1938), pp. 4-8.
Moynihan, Daniel Patrick “Defining Deviancy Down,” The American Scholar (Winter 1993), pp. 9-16.
Is Criminal Behavior Biologically Determined?
Raine, Adrian. “The Biological Basis of Crime,” in James Q. Wilson and Joan Petersilla, eds., Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control (ICS Press 2002), pp. 19-27.
Merton, Robert K. “Social Structure and Anomie,” American Sociological Review (volume 3, 1938), pp. 28-38.
Does IQ Significantly Contribute to Crime?
Herrnstein, Richard J. and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life (Free Press, 1994), pp. 43-51.
Cullen, Francis T. et. al., “Crime and the Bell Curve: Lessons from Intelligent Criminology,” Crime and Delinquency (October 1997), pp. 52-60.
February 9 – Criminal Law and Justice
Abadinsky pp. 231-286
Week 5 – Privacy
February 14 – Privacy
Kairys pp. 147-166
Cases Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 US 479 (1965); Lawrence v. Texas, 539 US 558 (2003); and Bowers v. Hardwick et al, 478 US 186 (1986)
February 16 – Exam 1
Week 6 – Law Enforcement
February 21 – Miranda
Kairys pp. 167-179
Should U.S. Courts Abandon the Miranda Rule?
Cassell, Paul G. “Miranda’s ‘Negligible’ Effect on Law Enforcement: Some Skeptical Observations,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Winter 1997), pp. 175-189.
Schlhofer, Stephen J. “Bashing Miranda Is Unjustified – and Harmful,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy (Winter 1997), pp. 190-207.
Case Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
February 23 – Racial Profiling
Is Racial Profiling An Acceptable Law Enforcement Strategy?
Taylor, Jared and Glayde Whitney, “Racial Profiling: Is There an Empirical Basis?” Mankind Quarterly (Spring 2002), pp. 116-127.
Lynch, Michael J. “Misleading ‘Evidence’ and the Misguided Attempt to Generate Racial Profiles of Criminals; Correcting Fallacies and Calculations Concerning Race and Crime in Taylor and Whitney’s Analysis of Racial Profiling,” Mankind Quarterly (Spring 2002), pp. 128-138.
Is Racial Profiling Necessary to Law Enforcement?
MacDonald, Heather, “The Myth of Racial Profiling,” City Journal (Spring 2001), pp. 24-35.
Schott, Richard G., “The Role of Race in Law Enforcement: Racial Profiling or Legitimate Use?” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2001), pp. 36-40.
Case Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
Week 7 – Prison and Punishment
February 28 – Prison
Is the Segregation of HIV-Positive Inmates Ethical?
Robinette, Penny A. “Is the Segregation of HIV-Positive Inmates Ethical? Yes,” The Prison Journal (March 1999), pp. 204-210.
Long, Billy. “Is the Segregation of HIV-Positive Inmates Ethical? No,” The Prison Journal (March 1999), pp. 211-216.
Are Conjugal and Familial Visitations Effective Rehabilitative Concepts?
Gordon, Jill. “Are Conjugal and Familial Visitations Effective Rehabilitative Concepts? Yes,” The Prison Journal (March 1999), pp. 220-224.
McConnell, Elizabeth H. “Are Conjugal and Familial Visitations Effective Rehabilitative Concepts? No,” The Prison Journal (March 1999), pp. 225-230.
Should Serial Killers and Violent Sexual Predators Be Quarantined for Life?
Ochberg, Frank M. “Quarantine Them Beyond Their Jail Terms,” The Washington Post (December 5, 1999), pp. 234-237.
Zonana, Howard. “We’re Doctors—Not Judges, Juries, or Jailers,” The Washington Post (December 5, 1999), pp. 238-240.
Should Homosexual Inmates Have a Right to Share the Same Cell?
Brinkman, Jeffrey P. “Veney v. Wiche: Not in My Cell-The Constitutionality of Segregating Prisoners Based on Their Sexual Orientation,” Law & Sexuality (2003), pp. 352-357.
Williams, Karen J. Veney v. Wiche, Fourth Circuit (2002) Case or pp. 358-363.
March 2 – Punishment
Should Serious Sex Offenders Be Castrated?
Wright, Lawrence. “The Case for Castration,” Texas Monthly (May 1992), pp. 77-83.
Vanderzyl, Kari A., “Castration as an Alternative to Incarceration: An Important Approach to the Punishment of Sex Offenders,” The Northern Illinois University Law Review (Fall 1994), pp. 84-90.
Do Crack Cocaine Laws Discriminate Against African-Americans and Other Minority Groups?
Coyle, Michael. “Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing,” The Sentencing Project (2002), pp. 458-467.
Kennedy, Randall. “The State, Criminal Law, and Racial Discrimination: A Comment,” Harvard Law Review, pp. 468-477.
Does Gender Affect Criminal Sentencing?
Young, Cathy. “License to Kill: Men and Women, Crime and Punishment,” Reason Foundation (July 2004), pp. 169-171.
Cruikshank, Barbara. “Feminism and Punishment,” Signs (Summer 1999), pp. 172-176.
Case Kansas v. Hendricks, 521 U.S. 346 (1997)
Week 8 – Sanctity of Life
March 7 – Euthanasia
Friedrichs pp. 13-24 and 74-88
Should Doctor-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized for the Terminally Ill?
Hull, Richard T. “The Case for Physician Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003), pp. 258-261.
Somerville, Margaret. “The Case against Physician Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003), pp. 262-266.
March 9 – Abortion
Luker pp. 126-157
Case Roe v. Wade, 410 US 113 (1973)
Week 9 – The Death Penalty and The Moratorium
March 14 – The Ultimate Punishment
Is Capital Punishment Bad Public Policy?
Von Drehle, David. “Miscarriage of Justice: Why the Death Penalty Doesn’t Work,” The Washington Post Magazine (February 5, 1995), pp. 246-257.
van den Haag, Ernest. “The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense,” Harvard Law Review (May 1986), pp. 258-264.
Case Atkins v. Virginia, 536 US 304 (2002) and Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005)
March 16 – The Moratorium Movement
Lanier and Acker. “Capital Punishment, The Moratorium Movement, and Empirical Questions: Looking Beyond Innocence, Race, and Bad Lawyering in Death Penalty Cases.”
Robin Maher. “The Death Penalty and Reform in the United States.”
Week 10 – Ethnicity and Race
March 21 – Immigration
Friedrichs pp. 142-150; 165-178; and 272-300
Is Third World Immigration a Threat to America’s Way of Life?
Buchanan, Patrick “Shields Up!” The American Enterprise (March 2002), pp. 42-48.
Wattenberg, Ben “Immigration is Good,” The American Enterprise (March 2002), pp. 49-56.
March 23 – Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination
Is Affirmative Action Reverse Discrimination?
Pincus, Fred L. “The Social Construction of Reverse Discrimination: The Impact of Affirmative Action on Whites,” Journal of Intergroup Relations (Winter 2001/2002), pp. 118-122.
Murray, Charles “Affirmative Racism: How Preferential Treatment Works Against Blacks,” The New Republic (December 31, 1984), pp. 123-131.
Has Affirmative Action Outlived Its Usefulness?
Crawford, Curtis. “Racial Preference Versus Nondiscrimination,” Society (March/April 2004), pp. 166-173.
Alvarez, Ann Rosegrant. “Are Affirmative-Action Policies Increasing Equality in the Labor Market?” Controversial Issues in Social Policy (Allyn and Bacon, 2003), pp. 174-182.
Case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
Week 11 – Spring Break (March 28 and March 30)
Week 12 – Law and Public Policy
April 4 – Exam 2
April 6 – Social Policy Through Law
Should Marijuana Be Legalized?
Nadelmann, Ethan A. “An End to Marijuana Prohibition—The Drive to Legalize Picks Up,” National Review (July 12, 2004) pp. 326-332.
Walters, John P. “No Surrender,” National Review (September 27, 2004) pp. 333-336.
Should Drug Use Be Decriminalized?
Nadelmann, Ethan A. Commonsense Drug policy,” Foreign Affairs (January/February 1998) pp. 294-301.
Voth, Eric A. “America’s Longest ‘War,’” The World & I (February 2000) pp. 302-306.
Case Brown et. al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al., 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
Week 13 – Family Law and Marriage
April 11 – Family Law
Kairys pp. 147-166
Should Gays and Lesbians Be Allowed to Adopt?
Perrin, Ellen C. “Symposium: Adoption by Gay or Lesbian Couples,” Insight on the News (April 22, 2002), pp. 222-225.
Dailey, Timothy J. “Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk,” Family Research Council (November 29, 2004), pp. 226-236.
April 13 – Civil Union v. Marriage
Should Same-Sex Marriages Be Permitted?
Schwartz, Lara.. “Why Marriage?” Human Rights Campaign Publication, pp. 207-210.
Humphrey, Edith M. “What God Hath Not Joined: Why Marriage Was Designed for Male and Female,” Christianity Today, (September 2004), pp. 211-217.
Should Same-Sex Marriages Be Legally Recognized?
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. “Talking about the Freedom to Marry: Why Same Sex-Sex Couples Should Have Equality in Marriage,” LLDEF website (June 20, 2001), pp. 96-99.
Schulman, Sam. “Gay Marriage—and Marriage,” Commentary (November 2003), pp. 100-106.
Case Goodridge et al. v. Dept. of Public Health, SJC-08860
Week 14 – Post 9/11
April 18 – Civil Liberties
Friedrichs pp. 27-29 and 232
Does the Threat of Terrorism Warrant Curtailment of Civil Liberties?
Bork, Robert H. “Liberty and Terrorism: Avoiding a Police State,” Current (December 2003), pp. 310-316.
Dority, Barbara. “Your Every Move,” The Humanist (January/February 2004), pp. 317-322.
Rosenzweig “Civil Liberty and the Response to Terrorism.”
Case Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944)
April 20 – Torture and Domestic Surveillance
Kairys pp. 13-37
Does the United States Have a Right to Torture Suspected Terrorists?
Moher, Andrew A. “The Lesser of Two Evils? An Argument for Judicially Sanctioned Torture in a Post-9/11 World,” Thomas Jefferson Law Review (Spring 2004), pp. 54-66.
Massimino, Elisa. “Leading by Example? U.S. Interrogation of Prisoners in the War on Terror,” Criminal Justice Ethics (Winter 2004), pp. 67-72.
Week 15 – First Amendment
April 25 – Expression and Religion
Kairys pp. 39-82 and 99-127
April 27 – Speech: Hate Speech and Hate Crimes
Is Hate Crime Legislation Constitutional?
Grigera, Elena. “Hate Crimes: State and Federal Response to Bias-Motivated Violence,” Corrections Today (August 1999), pp. 182-187.
Sullivan, Andrew. “What’s So Bad About Hate: The Illogic and Illiberalism Behind Hate Crime Laws,” The New York Times Magazine (September 26, 1999), pp. 189-203.
Gould, Jon B. “The Precedent That Wasn't: College Hate Speech Codes and the Two Faces of Legal Compliance.”
Week 16 – Legal Actors and The Profession
May 2 –
Friedrichs pp. 180-210; 242-270; and 300-310
May 4 – FINAL EXAM REVIEW
Week 17 – FINAL EXAM
Tuesday, May 9 10:30 am – 1:00 pm