Watch Michelle Alexander’s Ted Talk book “The New Jim Crow” aims to stimulate a conversation about the criminal justice system’s role in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy (or a racial caste-like system) in the United States. She raises compelling arguments about institutional racism, mass incarceration and felon disenfranchisement in the U.S. In this week’s discussion, discuss your own thoughts on this piece. Do you agree or disagree? In your view, what are some of the problems with incarceration as the primary sentence? What alternatives would you recommend in lieu of incarceration? What sentencing philosophy supports your favorite alternative?
1. Discuss the First Opium War and the role that the Western powers played in spreading and controlling the use of opium in China and other areas during
1. Discuss the First Opium War and the role that the Western powers played in spreading and controlling the use of opium in China and other areas during that time period. 2. In conducting additional research outside of the weekly readings, within recent years, many of our top elected officials