Professor: Michael Moffitt
4 credits
The justice system affects the lives of everyone in this country, but few have developed the ability to describe it accurately or persuasively to those without specialized training. Virtually every aspect of your liberal arts education has a role to play in understanding, predicting, and possibly even shaping the modern justice system. From the hard sciences (“how should complex and technical disputes be adjudicated, given a lay jury?”) to the social sciences (“what aspects of a judge’s background best predict her decisions?” “what allocation of costs creates the litigation incentives that best serve society?”) to the humanities (“how can—or should—we constrain the meaning-making processes of those charged with giving effect to legal rules?” “as part of what historical arc should current cases best be understood?” “what ethical foundations constrain or compel those involved in a system of justice?”). Observers of the judiciary often speak in ways that are accessible only to those already familiar with a particular discipline, ignoring broad communities of the affected and potentially interested. During this seminar, among other things, you will consider current issues, including multiple cases currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. You will write multiple drafts of multiple different writing assignments, each focused on the question of how to explain complex aspects of our justice system to a public audience.
Graduation Requirement: This class will fulfill a Social Science Colloquium requirement and the US: Difference, Inequality, Agency (US) cultural literacy requirement. If you have already taken a Social Science Colloquium, this class will fulfill both of the following requirements: an Elective Colloquium and the US: Difference, Inequality, Agency (US) cultural literacy requirement.