Discussion 1: Patterns of Crime and Punishment
In the period just before the American Civil War those in the U.S. criminal justice system were focused on the ability to handle those who had been deemed wayward and incorrigible. With the rapid influx of immigrants and rural Americans to the inner city, crime began to express a new reality. Given that many of today’s crime challenges are beholden to the urban context, it is ever more important to understand the roots of this problem. As such, there are two questions that must be discussed: What were the patterns of crime and punishment during this period? What fueled the Civil War?

For this Discussion, you consider crime and punishment before the Civil War and any existing current violent trends that can be traced back to it.

Explain the patterns of crime and punishment before the Civil War. Explain the impact these patterns had on current violent trends. What kinds of violent trends exist in your region? Are there international comparisons you can draw from the Civil War example?

Learning Resources
Required Readings
Note: To access this week's required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Jones M., & Johnstone, P. (2011). History of Criminal Justice. (5th ed.) New York, NY. Routledge.

Chapter 5, "Criminal Justice and the English Constitution"
Raza, A. E. (2011). Legacies of the racialization of incarceration: From convict-lease to the prison industrial complex. Journal of the Institute of Justice & International Studies, 159(11), 159–170. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases

Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2014). The birth of the Ku Klux Klan [Video file].

Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 1 minute.


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