POS 2692 Honors Punishment Prof. Mark Tunick Fall 2020 3 credits, MW 4-5:20 Live Online www.fau.edu/~tunick/courses/punishment/

Description: Why do we punish? What justifies the infliction of pain or suffering? We shall consider the views of critics who don't think we should punish or that punishment can't be just in a society with systemic injustice; the views of those who agree that we should punish but disagree about the reasons why; and a number of practical issues: (1) What actions should be punished: using marijuana? adultery? (2) Who should be punished: the insane? drug addicts? juveniles who had a rotten social background? (3) How much punishment is appropriate: should we ever use capital punishment? Should we reduce the punishment of those who plea guilty to a lesser offense (in other words, should we continue to allow plea-bargaining)? These problems will be our focal point for considering major concepts of political theory--authority, obligation, justice and freedom. We draw on a variety of sources: classic texts of political theory, contemporary works in philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology, literature, court decisions, and films/documentaries. There are no prerequisites for this course.
This course satisfies the Honors College core requirement in Culture, Ideas, and Values, or SBA Group B, or Global Citizenship: Ethics and Global Values; the political theory requirement for the Political Science Concentration; and is a Gordon Rule/WAC course. You must achieve a grade of "C" (not C-minus) or better to receive credit towards this requirement. Furthermore, this class meets the University-wide Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) criteria, which expect you to improve your writing over the course of the term. If this class is selected to participate in the university-wide WAC assessment program, you will be required to access the online assessment server, complete the consent form and survey, and submit electronically a first and final draft of a paper.

Goals: Students should leave the course with an understanding of and ability to apply the competing theories of punishment as well as liberal and paternalistic theories of the state, and an improved ability to think critically and to develop arguments by drawing on appropriate evidence and considering counterarguments.

Requirements: You may earn a maximum of 100 points, based on 2 short papers ('Assignments') of 3-4 pages each (10 points each), one longer paper (7-8 pages), which will be turned in as a draft and again as a revision (30 points), Canvas quizzes, discussion board posts, and writing exercises (35 points), an in-class ethics debates (5 points) and the quality of your participation in class discussions (10 points). Because this is a discussion-based class, attendance is important and you must come to class prepared to discuss the readings. Each unexcused absence beyond 2 reduces your total grade by 2 points. Missed in-class ethics debates cannot be made up. No late papers will be accepted without a valid medical excuse.
The default grading scale is 94-100 (A), 90<94 (A-), 87<90 (B+), 84<87 (B), 80<84 (B-), 77<80 (C+), 74<77 (C), 70<74 (C-), 67<70 (D+), 64<67 (D), 61<64 (D-), <61 (F). I may utilize a curve but only if doing so would yield a higher rather than a lower grade than what the student would earn using the default scale.

Readings: Each reading assignment should be completed prior to the class meeting under which it is listed. Consult Canvas Modules for introductory material and links to most readings. The following books have been ordered through FAU bookstore: Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, 2nd ed. (Cambridge UP, 0521017114); Capote, In Cold Blood (Vintage, 0679745587); Earley, The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth (Bantam/Mass Market, 0553560239). Other readings are available in Canvas or online.

Class Meets MW 4-5:20pm online via Zoom and will be discussion-based.
Office Hours:Mon and Tue, 2:30-3:30pm via Zoom;; or arrange other times by phoning (561) 799-8670 or emailing me at tunick@fau.edu.

8/26 Classic Retributive theory: Kant and Hegel
Rdg: Kant's Doctrine of Right (from the Metaphysics of Morals), pp. 140-5; and Hegel's Philosophy of Right, excerpts.

8/31 Modern Retributive theory: Mabbott's 'amoral' theory and Feinberg's 'expressive' theory
Rdg: D. Mabbott, "Punishment,"  Mind 48:152-167 (Apr., 1939); Joel Feinberg, "Expressive Function of Punishment," Preface and secs. 1-2

9/2 Utilitarian theory: Alexander's Doomsday Machine
Rdg: Larry Alexander, "The Doomsday Machine", pp. 209-219

9/7 No class: Labor Day

9/9 Classic Utilitarian theory
Rdg: Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, chs. 1-4, 12-17

9/14 Modern utilitarianism: 'law and economics'
Rdg: Kaplow and Shavell, Fairness versus Welfare, ch. 6 (excerpts)

9/16 Rule utilitarianism
Rdg: John Rawls, "Two Concepts of Rules," The Philosophical Review, 64:3-32 (Jan., 1955)
Writing exercise 1.

9/21 In-class ethics debate
Assignment one due

II. Radical Criticisms of punishment
9/23 Karl Menninger: 'Treatment not Punishment'
Rdg: Menninger, The Crime of Punishment, chs. 1, 7, 8, 10; and Schwarzenneger-Pratt, Gift of Forgiveness, pp. 20-24.
Film screening of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (137 minutes) [Warning: this film has graphic scenes of violence including sexual violence]

9/28 Transformative Justice
Rdg: Dixon and Piepzna-Samarasinha, eds. Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement (2020): Intro, pp. 23-25, ch. 2, ch. 3, pp. 115-18, 192-8, 275, 278-81, 291-7.

9/30 Critical views of punishment as a mechanism to benefit capitalists and racists
Rdg: Shane Bauer, American Prisons (2018), chs, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16; and NYT, "Minnesota will Dismantle Police Force"

10/5 Restitution instead of punishment?
Rdg: Randy Barnett, "Restitution: A New Paradigm of Criminal Justice," Ethics 87:279-301 (Jul., 1977).

III. What actions should be made crimes?

10/7 Mill's harm principle.
Rdg: J.S. Mill, On Liberty, chapters 1, 3, 4, 5 (excerpts)

10/12 Legal Moralism.
Rdg: John Danaher, "Robotic Rape and Robotic Child Sexual Abuse: Should they be Criminalized?", Criminal Law and Philosophy 11(1):71-95 (2017)

10/14 Paternalism
Rdg: Sarah Conly, Against Autonomy (2013), chs. 1, 6-7. For additional short readings see the Canvas website.

10/19 Is drunk driving a serious offense?
Rdg: Husak, "Is Drunk Driving a Serious Offense?" Philosophy and Public Affairs 23:52-73 (Winter, 1994)

10/21 Case Study: In Cold Blood
Rdg: Capote, In Cold Blood
Writing exercise 2.

IV. Causation and Accountability
10/26 In-class ethics debate: what counts as "causing harm"?
Rdg: Commonwealth v. Feinberg, 253 A. 2d 636 (Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1969)
For those interested: Amedure v. Jenny Jones Show, 656 N.W. 2d 195 (2003)
Assignment 2 due.

10/28 Involuntary Manslaughter: Did Michelle Carter Cause Conrad Roy's Death?
Rdg: Mark Tunick, Texting, Suicide, and the Law: The Case against punishing Michelle Carter, chapters 1, 3.

11/2 Degrees of culpability; justifications and excuses; self-defense
Rdg: Kaplan and Weisberg, 'Culpability'; Cynthia V. Ward, "Three Questions about 'Stand your Ground' laws," Notre Dame Law Reflection 95(3):119-38 (2020).
For those interested: Ric Waugh's film "Felon" (2008)
Writing exercise 2 (Paper outline due)

11/4 The insanity defense
Rdg: The Trial of John Hinckley Website: read Linder's summary, and "Trial Testimony and Arguments"; "Should John Hinckley Go Free"

11/9 Film: Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados in class (85 minutes); Canvas Discussion
Alternative ending (youtube) ; Pedro's Dream (youtube)

11/11 No Class: Veteran's Day

11/16 Social marginalization and accountability
Rdg: Bourgois, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, Introduction, chs. 1, 2, 4, 5, pp. 259-60 and 278-286 from ch. 7, ch. 9.
Recommended: William Bennett et.al., Body Count: Moral Poverty and how to win America's War against crime and drugs (1996), ch. 5 (pp. 191-208); Bourgois, ch. 3, 6, 8
Draft of Paper One Due

11/18 Does Punishment make sense if there is no free will?
Rdg: Joshua Greene and Jonathan Cohen, “For the law, neuroscience changes nothing and everything,” in S. Zeki and O. Goodenough, eds., Law and the Brain (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006), ch. 11 (excerpts).

V. Prison and Sentencing Issues

11/23 Capital Punishment: For and against.
Rdg: John Stuart Mill, Speech on capital punishment; Walter Berns, "The Morality of Anger"; Bedau, The Case Against the Death Penalty; "Study Suspects Thousands of False Convictions"; "Avery: Exonerated but Back in Jail"

11/25 Film: "The Chair" (79 minutes); Canvas Discussion

11/30 Prisons
Rdg: Earley, The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth (especially chs. 1-10, 18, 22, 24, 29-31, 48-55)

12/2 Plea-bargaining
Rdg: Kipnis, 'Criminal Justice and the Negotiated Plea', Ethics 86:93-106 (1976)

12/14 Paper 2 Revision Due

Additional notes:
Policy on Accommodations: In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), students who require reasonable accommodations due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) and follow all SAS procedures. SAS has offices across three of FAU’s campuses -- Boca Raton, SU 131 (561-297-3880); in Davie, LA 131 (954-236-1222); in Jupiter and all Northern Campuses, SR 111F (561-799-8585). Disability services are available for students on all campuses. For more information, please visit SAS website at www.fau.edu/sas/.
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Center: Life as a university student can be challenging physically, mentally and emotionally. Students who find stress negatively affecting their ability to achieve academic or personal goals may wish to consider utilizing FAU’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) Center. CAPS provides FAU students a range of services – individual counseling, support meetings, and psychiatric services, to name a few – offered to help improve and maintain emotional well-being. For more information, go to http://www.fau,edu/counseling/
Code of Academic Integrity Policy Statement: Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information, see University Regulation 4.001 and the WHC Academic Honor Code at http://www.fau.edu/honors/academics/honor-code.php.
Classroom Etiquette Policy: In order to enhance and maintain a productive atmosphere for education, personal communication devices such as smartphones are to be disabled during class.
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend all of their scheduled University classes and to satisfy all academic objectives as outlined by the instructor. The effect of absences upon grades is determined by the instructor, and the University reserves the right to deal at any time with individual cases of non-attendance. Students are responsible for arranging to make up work missed because of legitimate class absence, such as illness, family emergencies, military obligation, court-imposed legal obligations or participation in University-approved activities. Examples of University-approved reasons for absences include participating on an athletic or scholastic team, musical and theatrical performances and debate activities. It is the student’s responsibility to give the instructor notice prior to any anticipated absences and within a reasonable amount of time after an unanticipated absence, ordinarily by the next scheduled class meeting. Instructors must allow each student who is absent for a University-approved reason the opportunity to make up work missed without any reduction in the student’s final course grade as a direct result of such absence.
Florida Atlantic University policies regarding incomplete grades can be found in the University Catalog. Late work is subject to a grade reduction.

updated 8/24/2020