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SOC 301 -0 2 Penology SPRING 2021 JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK 524 West 59th Street, New York City, NY 10019 Instructor: Aaron Hammes Tue/Thu 4:30PM-5:45PM Room: (online) Email: ahammes@gradcenter.cuny.edu John Jay College Catalogue Course Description : This course examines how criminal punishment has changed over time. It reviews the various justifications for punishment including deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation, and restoration, - and examines how these affect punishment in practice. It considers the social, political, and economic functions that punishment serves. It explores how and why incarceration has dramatically expanded in recent decades in the United States and elsewhere, and considers current and future changes in the use of criminal punishment. Prerequisites: ENG 2 01 , SOC 203 and SOC 101 Additional Course Description : This course operates from a number of intuitions and assumptions, some of which will be almost immediately self-evident, others which may require some convincing, and still others which you may or may not share upon exit. The requirement is not that you are persuaded by any of our authors’ arguments, necessarily. Instead, you enter this class from one or more of the following categories: current or future law enforcement or corrections officer, current or future counselor or lawyer, student of criminology or sociology who is forced to take or interested in this course, person who wants to learn more about prisons. Wherever you fall in this Venn diagram, you should have some stake in being able to argue about prisons and their history, as well as the prospects for their continued use in the United States. The assumptions, then: prisons are both an enormous success and an embarrassing failure, there is no neutral ground. Prisons, the threat thereof, and their aftermath are an organ of state control differentially applied across race, class, gender and gender expression, sexual orientation, and immigrant status. Prisons in no way deter crime and in fact seem to increase it. Prisons are growing despite most measurable crime rates declining. If these assumptions sound strange, unbelievable, or unlikely, you are in the right place. If you already understand them in part or in full to be true, you are also in the right place.
We, as participants in or studiers of the American criminal justice system, must understand the roots of the institution that renders us unique from any other country in the world. America is the king of the Prison Industrial Complex, now we get to figure out why for the next few months. It goes (almost) without saying that openmindedness and care is expected of everyone in this class, especially when it comes to our unique and shared experiences and intuitions. This applies to considerations of race, class, gender expression, sexuality, ethnicity, and religion. Respect does not mean being silent when you disagree, it means trusting yourself, your classmates, and your instructor to balance having opinions with care. I will not hesitate to discuss with the class and individuals if this care is not taken, and I strongly request you do the same with me. Accessibility Statement : Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable academic accommodations if determined eligible by the Office of Accessibility Services (OAS). Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student’s eligibility from the OAS which is located at 1L.66.00 (212-237-8031). It is the student’s responsibility to initiate contact with the office and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor. Academic Integrity Statement : Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else’s ideas, words, or artistic, scientific, or technical work as one’s own creation. Using the ideas or work of another is permissible only when the original author is identified. Paraphrasing and summarizing, as well as direct quotations require citations to the original source. Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional. Lack of dishonest intent does not necessarily absolve a student of responsibility for plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to recognize the difference between statements that are common knowledge (which do not require documentation) and restatements of the ideas of others. Paraphrase, summary, and direct quotation are acceptable forms of restatement, as long as the source is cited. Students who are unsure how and when to provide documentation are advised to consult with their instructors. The Library has free guides designed to help students with problems of documentation. (John Jay College of Criminal Justice Undergraduate Bulletin, http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/academics/654.php, see Chapter IV Academic Standards) Learning Outcomes: ▪ LO1: Thorough knowledge of the core literature and debates that make up the discipline of criminology
Attendance and participation: 10% Reflections and short at-home writing: 30% Prison Policy Assignment: 20% Prison Culture Spring Break Assignment: 20% Final on Prison Writing: 20% Descriptions of Major Assignments: Prison Policy Assignment (2-4 pages): You will choose a policy related to prisons and detail the ways in which it corresponds to Foucault’s writing about prisons. This could be a policy specific to one prison, or a broader practice in American penal institutions. Alternatively, it could be a specific statute or law (eg. a loitering ordinance, local drug statutes, etc.) which has a direct impact on who gets into the system and how they are treated once they are there. You will cite the actual language of the policy/proposal/practice, describe using statistics or anecdotal evidence who is affected by it, and cite Foucault on punishment (anywhere in the text you think is relevant) to help make sense of the theory behind the policy and its enforcement or enactment. 3-4 pages. Prison Culture Assignment (3-5 pages): There are two possible versions of this assignment from which you can choose. The first is to utilize the “Transformative Justice” tab at usprisonculture.com and search through the various resources to write about how the concept of transformative justice (TJ) relates to what we have read about the Prison Industrial Complex and prison abolition. The goal of this version of the assignment is to define TJ according to the goals of prison abolition and the Prison Industrial Complex, as well as to clarify for your reader how TJ by using at least 5 separate resources from the page (they tend to be brief, and include audio as well as reading). Alternatively, you may pursue a topic of your own choosing by clicking through links on the “bookmarks” sidebar of the site. Here you will find a variety of different organizations and reading lists which you can use as research materials. The goal of this version of the assignment is to explain a subject in penology we have not had the chance to enter into in depth (solitary confinement, the death penalty, juvenile justice, etc.) and relate it back to our readings and the goals and ideology of prison abolition. You will articulate how your topic connects to our readings by citing each and, ideally, adding something new to the discussion. FOR SPRING 2021 We have a third possibility for this “mid-term” assignment. MOMA PS1 will be showing “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration” through April 4. You are invited to submit a reflection on two or more pieces from the exhibition, detailing how they deal with abolition, transformative justice, or other topics from the course. The goal is to use the art to help defend an argument about the American criminal legal system and the carceral state. I will likely set a date to meet at the museum if people are interested, but it is a pay what
you want ticket for NY residents (i.e. free), and you can make appointments at any point before April 4. Angles on Abolitionism (5-6 pages): Your final major assignment will focus on prison abolition from the perspectives we have seen in class. You must use at least two of our class readings, but you may want to most or all of them in some way. The task is NOT to make an argument for or against prison reform or abolition; we will have done enough of that throughout the semester. Instead, you are seeking a specific thesis related to prison abolition, as suggested by the work we’ve done together. This could be as broad as gender-specific issues in women’s prisons or as specific as one element of Davis’s analysis you want to apply to contemporary (or historical) context. You should come away from this course able to articulate the concept of prison abolition and what it actually means; this is an opportunity to do that in a more directed manner. Schedule of Meetings: Tuesday 2/ Discuss syllabus and course policies, noting especially when we begin using required course books. Diagnostic quiz and discussion thereof. Introduce Michelle Alexander and the concept of the New Jim Crow. Discuss what makes for good questions and notes. For Thursday: READ— New Jim Crow (Introduction). Take notes on Alexander’s theses and background. What is the purpose of this book and how does the author relate to its subject matter? BRING IN AT LEAST TWO SPECIFIC QUESTIONS FROM THE TEXT. Thursday 2/ Discuss reading and the notes we’ve taken and the expectations set by the text. Introduce assignment on the Alexander reading and the work this text will do in setting up the rest of the course. For Tuesday: READ—Interview with Miriame Kaba (https://thenextsystem.org/learn/stories/towards-horizon- abolition-conversation-mariame-kaba). AND Nation article on prison abolition (https://www.thenation.com/article/what-is-prison-abolition/)
Thursday 2/ Discuss Davis’s style and the nature of her evidence. Does this book sound more argumentative, is it clear it comes from an activist rather than a lawyer? For Tuesday: READ— The New Jim Crow (Chapter Three). Again, take good notes as this is our longest form text on the war on drugs and its direct relation to carcerality in the US. Bring in at least two specific questions, and keep building your notes regarding the case for the complete failure of the US prison system. Tuesday 2/ Discuss Chapter Three. By now, your questions ought to guide our discussion. What does Alexander’s history add to our understanding of the underpinnings of the prison system? How has her overall thesis developed over this chapter? Introduce Foucault and his presence in our course. These next sessions will be some difficult and different reading, and we will take it slow at first. Discuss what makes for a better or worse reflection. For Thursday: READ— Discipline and Punish (in Part One “Torture”: “The Body of the Condemned” (p. 3-16). WRITE—Reflection on the reading. This is a skill we will develop throughout the course, and this is almost certainly our most difficult text. In this case, our main concern in discerning Foucault’s thesis, and summary is important. What is the point of this first section of the reading? Thursday 2/ Discuss Foucault’s style. How does it compare to Alexander’s or Davis’s, and what are his aims as compared to theirs? Is he an abolitionist? Is there an argument, or is the work more descriptive? We will discuss the reflections and strategies for reading this sometimes-difficult thinker. For Tuesday: READ— Discipline and Punish (the rest of “The Body of the Condemned”). Take CAREFUL NOTES. There is a ton of material in these few pages which lay out many of Foucault’s goals in this book. We will be skipping far forward in it for the remainder of our work with it, and you are responsible for understanding his point in writing it, even without our reading every word of it. Take note of especially difficult or unclear passages so we can pick them apart in class.
Tuesday 3/ Close readings in Foucault. Discussing the relevance and continued influence of this work as we move towards the policy assignment. Introduce Bentham and the panopticon. For Thursday: READ— Discipline and Punish (“Panopticism” p195-209) Thursday 3/ View examples of panoptic prisons. Further close readings of Foucault. For Tuesday: READ— Discipline and Punish (“Panopticism” p209-216; “Complete and Austere Institutions” p231-235) You might consider reading ahead in preparation for next week’s assignment. Tuesday 3/ Make sure we have clear definitions of “complete” and “austere” as Foucault deploys them. Introduce Goffman and discuss what of his work we may have encountered previously. For Thursday: READ—“Total Institutions” (Goffman) Thursday 3/ Break into groups for the weekend assignment For Tuesday: READ— Discipline and Punish (“Complete and Austere Institutions” p235-248) WRITE—Do some online research to write about one specific modern prison application of your assigned “principle” from Foucault. Ideally, expand on a specific penal institution’s implementation of the principle. Feel free to make reference to Goffman as useful. 2-3 pages. Tuesday 3/ For Thursday:
READ— Are Prisons Obsolete? (Chapter Six) VISIT—The Prison Moratorium Project (nomoreprisons.org) WRITE (due Tuesday)—1-2 page reflection on alternatives as discussed in Davis. Tuesday 4/ For Thursday READ— Are Prisons Obsolete? (Chapter Four) Captive Genders “Building a Trans and Queer Abolitionist Movement” WRITE—2-3 page reflection on gender/sexuality in prison abolition. How do these issues overlap? Can you reconstruct the basic arguments, beyond simple discrimination? Thursday 4/ For Tuesday: READ— Captive Genders Introduction: Fugitive Flesh AND The Long Term (p83-106 including intro and ch 1-4 of Section 2 “Long Term Sentencing…”) Tuesday 4/ For Thursday READ— The Long Term (p112-p131 including intro and ch 5-8 of Section 2 “Long Term Sentencing…”) WRITE—See above for description of “Prison Culture” assignment, due next Tuesday. Thursday 4/ For Tuesday: READ— The Long Term (p.159-183 including intro and ch 1-3 of Section 3 “For Feminist Freedoms…”) Tuesday 4/
For Thursday: READ— The Long Term (p192-204 including ch 5 and 6 of Section 3) NY Times interview with Ruth Wilson Gilmore: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson- gilmore.html Thursday 4/ For Tuesday: READ— The Long Term (p.205-210 AND p217-227) Tuesday 5/4: For Thursday: READ— The Long Term (p.228-p239) Thursday 5/6: For Tuesday: READ— The Long Term (p240-p261) Tuesday 5/11: For Thursday: READ—Selection from Dean Spade’s Normal Life Thursday 5/13: (OPEN)
