Prerequisite(s): JUST 101 or JUST 102 or JUST 204 or JUST 205 or departmental approval. The course will focus on Prisons and Punishment in American society. The prison is the symbol of punishment in western society. Apart from the general and historical claims made on punishment, we will be concerned with the policy implications of the existence of prisons. We will discuss the purposes of prison, whether or not they rehabilitate, and explore the issue of alternatives to incarceration. This course will emphasize classical and contemporary sociological and historical texts, case law, inmate memoirs, and fictional accounts of prison life. As we learn to connect crime to social cohesion, cultural diversity, labor issues, and racial, ethnic and gender differences, we will discover and sample various perspectives on punishment.