Part1) Lawrence Sherman has been one of the most well regarded policing scholars
Part1) Lawrence Sherman has been one of the most well regarded policing scholars for over half a century. Read his article: Rogue Cops or Rogue Cultures and respond to the following questions.
1) What is the Framing problem of American policing?
2) What is the best venue for change, what level of government should activists target at if they want to change their local police?
3) What specific strategies could be effective in changing local police? List and explain several of the reforms he suggests, select a favorite and explain why you think this is the best option.
Part 2) What is Vitale’s central argument in “The End of Policing”. What areas of policing does he criticize? What is the basis of his argument?
What does he argue could replace police?
Do you agree or disagree with his argument? Have your thoughts changed given the events of the past months? Part 3) Read Samuel Walker ” A new World of Police Accountability” Chapters 1 and 2 and answer the following questions.
1) What does Walker believe are the greatest issues in ensuring police accountability? What types of reforms have been tried, and why have they been unsuccessful. 2) What specific reforms does Walker argue for? What is his take on criminal prosecution of individual officers? What specific practices and institutions does he believe are the most effective in holding police accountable?
3) Is Walker an Optimist, or are his proposals too limited to address the problems of police accountability? Compare and Contrast Walker’s vision of police accountability with Vitale’s. Which of the two authors’ proposals do you think would produce a better outcome? Part 4) Watch “Netflix “Time: A Khalief Browder Story 1-4”. What did you learn from this documentary? What happened to Khalief Browder and what impact has this had on the criminal justice system since? What parts of the system failed Khalief and how can this be changed? How did this documentary impact you?
Part 5) Read Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” and Watch the Documentary “The 13th”. Both Michelle Alexander in her book “The New Jim Crow” and the Netflix Documentary “The 13th”, argue that law enforcement is fundamentally based on structural racism.Michelle Alexander- do you agree that structural racism is at the core of our criminal justice system? If so, how can we address this? More importantly, what three factors does Alexander and the Netflix Documentary focus on for increasing mass incarceration? What progress has been made to date in this area?
Part 6) Please read the first chapter of Angela Davis: Arbitrary Justice. What is the role of the prosecutor in the United States? What does it mean to do justice? What roll do elections play in prosecutorial decision making? Are elections harmful because they make prosecutors focused on voters and not on justice, or are they important because they allow us to hold prosecutors accountable. Do prosecutors have too much discretion? If so, how can this be limited or made accountable?