1. Go to the report from the American Civil Liberties
Union on Driving While Black. Write a short paper outlining the main
pieces of evidence in the report about racial disparity. Also, note what the
report says is the effect of this disparity on the rule of law and
perceptions of justice.
2. In an article originally published in the
Minnesota Law Review, David Harris addresses the question of why
driving while black matters. In a short paper, summarize the argument
he makes about why such practices of discrimination are important.
3. The organization Human Rights Watch released a
report, "Punishment
and Prejudice: Racial Disparities and the War on Drugs." What
evidence did they find of minority over-representation in the criminal
justice system? What are the human rights issues implicated in their
findings?
4. The American Society of Criminology appointed a
National Policy Committee to look at incarceration trends. Read the report
of the National Policy Committee and summarize the evidence of
differential treatment based on both race and gender. What are the
Committee's concerns? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
5. Use the search box to the right to find information on the cost of white collar
crime. Try typing in combinations of words like: cost,
extensiveness, prevalence, white collar crime, corporate crime, bribes,
kickbacks, political corruption, elite deviance, etc. Do the results seem
to support Reiman's contention about the extent of the problem and the
lack of research?
6. Use the search box to find information about
economic bias in criminal justice. Try variations of the following words:
economic bias, inequality, class, wealth, income, crime, criminal justice,
prison, etc.
7. Repeat the search above using the search options
available at the Sourcebook for Criminal Justice
Statistics. The sourcebook contains 600 tables with information
drawn from 100 sources. How many deal with social class, income, wealth,
or inequality?
8. What's
your hypothetical criminal record? Have you ever sat down and thought
out what your hypothetical criminal record would be if all the crimes you
committed in your life would have been reported to the police and
prosecuted? How might race and class play into this?
9.
Read
the blog posting about Bernard Ebbers’
sentencing. What did Ebbers do and
what was his sentence? What are two bulleted objections
and what is the response to them?
10.
How does the U.K's
Corporate Manslaughter Statute work? Why was it implemented?
