Rethinking Crime and Justice: Explorations from the Inside Out

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What are the causes and costs of criminal behavior? How are people and communities affected by incarceration? How can we make our criminal justice system as good as it can be for all stakeholders? This course brings together students from both sides of the prison wall to explore issues including why people commit crime, what prisons are for, realities of prison life and reentry, effects of victimization, and restorative justice perspectives. This course follows the Inside-Out model of prison exchange now well established across the United States. It provides an opportunity for "inside students" (at the Westville Correctional Facility) and "outside students" (from Notre Dame) to learn with and from each other and to break new ground together. Notre Dame students travel to Westville each week of the semester for dialogue with students at the facility, who have read the same relevant texts. Together they examine myths and realities related to crime and to punishment, explore the effects of criminal justice policy, and develop ideas for responding more effectively to crime in our communities.