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SOCIOL 376-CN : Topics in Sociological Analysis: Criminal Justice and Social Services

Description

Public health, the welfare state, and the legal system are deeply interconnected. This course is intended to supply students interested in each of these three fields with important knowledge about the others: students pursuing careers in public health will learn how that field is shaped by welfare policy and the law, students interested in social work or public administration will learn how poverty governance draws upon legal and medical institutions, and students interested in the law will learn how the criminal justice system deals with public health issues and poverty. This course will also cover the historical relationships between these three fields, including how the deinstitutionalization of mental health care and the shrinking of the welfare state shaped mass incarceration in the United States. Finally, this class will discuss some programs and policies that transcend the boundaries between these fields, such as court-ordered substance abuse treatment.