CC608
Crime, Politics, and Political Deviance in Global Perspective
0.5 Credit

This course explores the connection between politics, crime, punishment, and justice. Students study the place of crime and punishment in various political ideologies such as anarchism, conservatism, liberalism, and world religions. The class also examines how different political regimes apply these ideologies in their criminal justice practices. In particular, students explore: (1) the making and development of criminal justice and penal policies in different political settings; (2) political crimes committed by the state such as illegal activities of secret police and death squads, torture, and extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances; (3) political deviance against the state, such as protests and riots, sedition, treason, espionage, terrorism; and (4) the infringement of the government into the administration of criminal justice. Students further develop critical thinking skills that are necessary to analyze the elements of the criminal law and evaluate the merits of various competing theories about the regulation of crime in different political regimes.