17.271 | Fall 2020 | Undergraduate

Mass Incarceration in the United States

Calendar

WEEK # TOPICS DUE DATES
Part I: Where are we? (Overview of US incarceration)
1 Introduction  
2 More detail/Race and the criminal legal system  
3 Downstream effects: crime and recidivism Assignment 1 distributed 
4 Downstream effects: collateral consequences  
Part II: How did we get here?
5 Laws Assignment 1 due
6 Public opinion, punitiveness, elections Assignment 2 distributed
7 Interest groups  
8 Police and prosecutors Assignment 2 due
Part III: What could change?
9 Changing public opinion, laws, sentencing Assignment 3 distributed
10 Changing actors (especially prosecutors)  
11

Changing the prison system (or diverting)

Guest speaker: Lee Perlman, co-director of the Educational Justice Institute at MIT

Assignment 3 due
12 Changing technology  
13 Reform vs. revolution  
14 Final presentations Final presentation due

Course Info

Instructor
Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2020
Learning Resource Types
Presentation Assignments
Written Assignments with Examples
Instructor Insights