Academic Writing Group Projects
- Get Started
- Criminal Justice
- Guns in America
- Far-Right Extremism
- Heteronormativity and LGBTQ+ Rights
- Protest in the 21st century
- Future of the Economy/Work in the 2020s
- Income Inequality
- 21st Century Racism or Race Relations or Civil Rights
- Political Correctness
- Fake News
- Climate Change
- Immigration
- Intersectionality and Gender Equality
- Policing in America
- MLA Citatons
- Fairy Tales
eBooks
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle AlexanderISBN: 9781595585301Publication Date: 2010As the United States celebrates the nation’s “triumph over race” with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status—much like their grandparents before them. In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community—and all of us—to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.
- Inside Private Prisons by Lauren-Brooke EisenISBN: 9780231179706Publication Date: 2017When the tough-on-crime politics of the 1980s overcrowded state prisons, private companies saw potential profit in building and operating correctional facilities. Today more than a hundred thousand of the 1.5 million incarcerated Americans are held in private prisons in twenty-nine states and federal corrections. Private prisons are criticized for making money off mass incarceration--to the tune of $5 billion in annual revenue.
- Collision Course by Kathleen AuerhahnCall Number: onlineISBN: 1978817983Publication Date: 2022This book is about the convergence of trends in two American institutions - the economy and the criminal justice system. The American economy has radically transformed in the past half-century, led by advances in automation technology that have permanently altered labor market dynamics. Over the same period, the U.S. criminal justice system experienced an unprecedented expansion at great cost. These costs include not only the $80 billion annually in direct expenditures on criminal justice, but also the devastating impacts experienced by justice-involved individuals, families, and communities. Recently, a widespread consensus has emerged that the era of "mass incarceration" is at an end, reflected in a declining prison population. Criminal justice reforms such as diversion and problem-solving courts, a renewed focus on reentry, and drug policy reform have as their goal keeping more individuals with justice system involvement out of prisons, in the community and subsequently in the labor force, which lacks the capacity to accommodate these additional would-be workers. This poses significant problems for criminal justice practice, which relies heavily on employment as a signal of offenders' intentions to live a law-abiding lifestyle. The diminished capacity of the economy to utilize the labor of all who have historically been expected to work presents significant challenges for American society. Work, in the American ethos is the marker of success, masculinity and how one "contributes to society." What are the consequences of ignoring these converging structural trends? This book examines these potential consequences, the meaning of work in American society, and suggests alternative redistributive and policy solutions to avert the collision course of these economic and criminal justice policy trends.
Databases
- CQ Researcher
This database contains reports and analysis with opposing viewpoints on current issues.
Contents: Reports including background information and chronology, assessments, pro/con statements, and bibliographies.
- Nexis Uni (LexisNexis)
Contents: Full-text local, national, and international newspaper articles and legal resources.
Need search tips? See our guides for tips on Legal Searching and News Searching.
- SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO)
Covers a broad range of studies, including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, religion, racial studies, and social work.
Contents: Abstracts and full-text of scholarly journals, books, and conference papers.
- Statista
Subjects are geared towards business and marketing statistical needs, and include consumer goods, media, politics, sports, travel, and technology.
Contents: Statistical information, data, infographics, and tables.