sociology of law
Write essays (3 pages per question, typed double-spaced) on 3 questions: both #1 and 2, plus # 3 or 4 or 5. Address each part of the question and in your analysis cite a broad range of specific course materials (particularly Law in your Lives Friedrichs third edition and Taking Sides eighteenth edition from M. Ethan Katsh; about 7-10 different sources from the course per question is typical), bringing in and citing reading, and your own ideas. Your use of evidence and argument should demonstrate you understand the course material and support your own view well. Number your pages and start each essay with the question number (e.g., #1, #4; don’t retype the question). A cover page is unnecessary.
Use ASA citation style
for Friedrichs text: (Text, pp. 123-124)
for Taking Sides articles: cite the specific article’s author, e.g., (Alito in TS, p. 232).
for films: give the film title in quotes, e.g., (“Justice for Sale”)
1. Advocacy groups, government officials, and the public have been debating possible legal change designed to address significant social problems: (A) Banning the sale of most flavored tobacco products; (B) Improving water quality and addressing drought conditions by capturing rainwater to increase safe drinking water supplies, reducing trash and toxins entering waterways and beaches through stricter government regulation and increasing penalties for polluters; and (C) Increasing funding sources for public schools, community colleges, and local government services by raising tax assessment of commercial and industrial property and increasing taxes on firearm sales. A national non-profit voter-education organization called Dr. Communitarian (Dr. C) and Dr. Libertarian (Dr. L) to speak at a public hearing about the ways law designed to address social problems does—or does not—protect the individual and community—specifically regarding these three proposed ballot measures.
What would Dr. Libertarian’s and Dr. Communitarian’s perspectives on the three measures be, what would each say about the measures and ideas the other side favors, and what assumptions or evidence would they use to support their own view and proposals? Both speakers should address: (A) how each measure would or would not remedy the social problems they propose to remedy; (B) where the line should be drawn between what is appropriately “private” and “public” in a particular area of law; and (C) how individual rights and community interests should be respected in addressing positive and negative effects of “private” actions on the public or community.
Also discuss your own perspective on Dr. L’s and Dr. C’s arguments and the legal actions you think would be most effective to address health effects from tobacco products, taxing commercial property and firearm sales to support public schools, community colleges, and local government services; and water pollution and scarcity. What would be strengths and weaknesses of the legal actions you favor and what could address the weaknesses effectively? Cite and discuss specific course materials in your essay.
2. What role does—and what role should—U.S. law play in relation to for-profit corporations in arenas, issues, and cases the course covers (e.g., regarding the legal profession, employment and labor law, free speech, equality and discrimination, privacy, security and military power, education and school facilities, file sharing and copyright laws, white-collar and street crime, property, torts and tort reform, prisons, interrogation and torture, monopoly and competition, civil procedure and due process, and contracts)? Does—and should—the law serve the private interest, the public interest, or both? Explain how and why the law works the way you believe it does in serving the private or the public interest (or both). Discuss arenas, issues, and cases the course covers (such as those above or others you choose) and cite specific course materials in your essay.
CHOOSE 1 OF THE FOLLOWING 3 QUESTIONS (in addition to Questions 1 and 2):
3. Imagine that you are a public interest lawyer working for disadvantaged clients and the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives has commissioned you to draft a report on at least four legal reforms you recommend. What would be the aim of your proposals? How would they be carried out? Why would they be effective? Using course materials and your own ideas, what arguments and support or evidence would you use to respond to possible critics of your proposals?
OR
4. How does—and how can—the law advance or undermine justice and human rights? What is the place of law in achieving justice? Some our course materials address issues of power and varying levels of access to and use of law by different social groups. Drawing on specific course materials, discuss the routes to effective use of law by those who are relatively disempowered or disenfranchised as well as by powerful groups. Analyze the tension and possible conflict between progress and stability in the development of the law, by using at least two cases as examples. Discuss ways in which society contributes to legal change and ways in which legal change affects society. Use specific concepts and examples from our course materials.
OR
5. Select a workplace or organization you are familiar with and discuss it and its connections to the legal system in terms of the issues we have examined in this course (as sketched in the syllabus or discussed in the reading and lectures). Include in your analysis ways to improve the workplace or organization and its connections to the legal system and what likely effects these proposed changes would have. Cite specific course materials in your essay.