Through different perspectives we will reflect and challenge common concepts in law enforcement as ‘justice’, ‘law & order’, ‘security’ and ‘victim vs. offender’.
We dive into the question of how much emphasis our justice system should put on punishment vs. rehabilitation. Recidivism rates are significantly higher when the criminal justice system focuses on punitive approaches and harsher enforcement than when it focuses on rehabilitation and positive development. But how do we then make sure ‘justice’ is served?
And what about our society at large? It is well known that contextual factors such as poverty and access to education influence the probability of criminal behavior. As a future matter research shows that institutional racism and biases within the justice system lead to unequal outcomes and exacerbate structures of social injustice. So, should the first step not be to eradicate social injustice and to make societies more equal - with true equal chances for everyone? How much responsibility, or guilt, can we attribute to the individual if most risk factors are contextual? Also how do narratives in the public debate and media affect the legitimacy and efficacy of the justice system?
The course introduces students not only to different sides of these discussions, but also connects them with people within the system (professionals and people with lived-experience) through panel discussion during the meeting and field-trips. Combining aspects of theory, empirics, philosophy and practice-based knowledge, we would like to challenge students to re-think, re-design and re-build future approaches to law enforcement.
For more information and course details, go to 'Curriculum' at the top of the page.