This course is required for those students who intend to complete a Law and Society Concentration. It is intended to stimulate critical and systematic thinking about the relationships among American legal institutions and selected racial and ethnic populations. During the semester, the class will examine various social and cultural conditions, as well as historical and political events, that were influenced in large part by the race or ethnicity of the participants. These conditions and events will be studied to deter-mine in what ways the American legal system has advanced, accommodated, or frustrated their interests. Through exposure to the legislative process and legal policy making, students will gain an appreciation for the complexity and far-reaching impact that legal institutions have on the social, political, and economic condition of racial and ethnic groups in America.
Enrollment is limited to fifteen students.
This course is cross-listed as both legal studies and sociology. This is a lecture and discussion course designed to introduce students to the law, legal profession, and legal systems as they are portrayed, presented, affected, and utilized by the media. The primary frame of reference from which to examine the issues and legal phenomena in this course will be sociological and social psychological. Students will examine the significant role that the media play in the American justice system as well as the critical legal issues that the media face in pursuing their craft. Central to the foundation of this course is the exploration of the meaning of the speech and press clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.