Criminal Law and Procedure

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course will acquaint students with the basic pillars of the criminal justice system: why we have criminal punishment, how we define crime, and the process we use to punish it. Criminal law subject matter will include the elements of crime, defenses (such as self-defense, the insanity defense, and defenses based on neuroscience), the death penalty and sentencing more generally, and whether we criminalize too much conduct. Criminal procedure subject matter will include an examination of police stop and frisk and surveillance practices, pretrial detention, how plea-bargaining works, and the operation of the jury. The course will also cover the system’s impact on people of color, the phenomenon known as mass incarceration, and the current movement to abolish aspects of the criminal legal system. Prerequisite/Corequisite: ULAW 1000. [3]