Law And Society

We have covered several theoretical approaches (Weber, Marx, Du Bois, MacKinnon)
that help us understand why societies criminalize and punish certain behaviors, and
why they choose not to criminalize and punish other behaviors.
Your job in this assignment is to analyze ONE of the news articles below in light of those
theoretical approaches.
Your discussion should note which theoretical approach (or combination of approaches)
best explains the facts discussed in the article. It should briefly explain the theoretical
approach you choose. Then, it should demonstrate how the theory fits–or doesn’t
fit–with the article you chose.
I am not looking for a particular “right” answer. One could probably make an argument
that each article at least partially exemplifies each of the theories. I do, however, want to
see you make connections between a theory and a concrete example.
Do not devote big portions of your paper to summarizing the article. I want you to
draw on theory to *analyze* the article. Thus, you should recount what happens in
the piece only insofar as it helps forward your argument.
Good papers lay out a clear argument and support it with evidence. Your first paragraph
should include a clear thesis. (Remember a thesis can be more than one sentence.)
Then, the body of the paper should point to clear evidence from the text to support your
claim. Each paragraph should only have one core idea.
1.) George Joseph and Simon Davis-Cohen, “Internal Documents Reveal How Bronx
Prosecutors Are Taught to Slow Down Cases,” theappeal.org, Aug 2,2018.
(Links to an external site.)
2.) Lam Thuy Vo, “They Played Dominoes Outside Their Apartment For Decades. Then
The White People Moved In And Police Started Showing Up,” Buzzfeed, June 29, 2018.
(Links to an external site.)
3.) Wesley Lowery, Hannah Knowles, and Mark Berman, “The Perfect Victim,” The
Washington Post, Nov. 30, 2020.
(Links to an external site.)
4.) Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus and MaryJo Webster, “When Rape Is Reported and
Nothing Happens (part 1),” Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 22, 2018.
(Links to an external site.)
5.) Jenn Abelson, Nicole Dungca and Todd Wallack, “Inside Our Secret Courts,” Boston
Globe, Sept. 30, 2018.
(Links to an external site.)
6.) Anne Wolfe and Michelle Liu, “Think Debtors’ Prisons are a Thing of the Past? Not in
Mississippi,” The Marshall Project, January 9, 2020.
(Links to an external site.)
7. Natalie Schreyer, “A ‘Prisoner of War’ Story: The Life and Captivity of Lisa
Montgomery–The First Women to be Executive by the Federal Government in 68
Years,” Ms Magazine, January 1, 2021.
(Links to an external site.)
[Major trigger warning on this one, folks: violence, sexual abuse.] An update:
government officials killed Montgomery on 1/13/21.
Procedural information:
● Your paper should be approximately 750 words, not counting footnotes. Your
paper should be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins and 12 point font. No
extra spaces between words, sentences, or paragraphs.
● Papers should be written in the third person; papers should also contain an
introduction and a brief conclusion setting out the thesis/argument of the
paper.
● Submit your paper via Canvas using this link.
● All work must be your own. Your own analysis will of course draw on the
ideas of other people, and from readings in the class; when you do refer to
the ideas of another author, you must make that clear and provide a citation.
If you use the language of another author, you must put the language in
quotation marks and provide a citation. Note that I want to see a lot of
citations! This demonstrates that you are synthesizing the material and
drawing on relevant examples from the reading. I am asking you to read your
chosen article above in light of course materials; the more you draw on
(relevant) course materials, and show me that you are doing that, the
stronger your paper is likely to be. (The judicial opinions you are reading in
class are similarly showing their work in their citation practice.)
● Please place citations in footnotes. Legal scholars use footnotes. (Click here
to learn how to add a footnote. (Links to an external site.)
● It’s very easy if you follow these directions, and Word will take care of the
sequential numbering for you. If you are using different software, a quick
internet search should provide the same information.) Footnotes should be
single spaced, in 10 point font. You do not need a “works cited” (because all
the required information is already in your footnotes).
● Your footnotes should look like this:
1. John Doe, “The Brooding Omnipresence in the Sky,” New York Times, Feb. 29, 2016,
p. 4.
2. United States v. Mikos, 539 F.3d 706 (7th Cir. 2008), p. 2.
3. Topher Sanders, Kate Rabinowitz, and Benjamin Conarck, “Walking While Black,”
ProPublica and the Florida Times-Union, November 16, 2017.