Class Details
ANOTHER WAY OF DEALING WITH CRIME: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND PEACEMAKING
The United States of America (USA) has the highest number of individuals in prison of any country at 1,767,200. Furthermore, the rate of incarceration (538 per 100,000) is higher than that of any western nation, ranking sixth in the world. However, our high rate of imprisonment is not because we have more crime than other countries. The USA crime rate is 47.8/100,000 residents, compared to 46.1 in the United Kingdom, 48 in Sweden, and 51.9 in France, and we rank 55th in overall crime rates. Our high incarceration rate is explained by our reliance on retributive justice. However, retributive justice is only one response to crime
In this class, we will explore the basis of retributive justice in our culture and then explore the roots of a potential alternative, restorative justice. Restorative justice, sometimes called peacemaking, is based on the practice of bringing victim, offender and community together to find a way to restore whatever was harmed by the offense, or to at least begin the healing process for all. Although its use is not yet widespread, restorative justice practices have been emerging across western societies over the past three decades. We will focus on specific restorative practices to include use with juveniles, sexual violence, intimate partner violence and even homicides.
This course will give students the opportunity to interact with those personally touched by the criminal legal system in Oklahoma. This course requires a short interview (January 2024).
Enrollment
- Enrollment through your home campus; contact your local OSLEP campus coordinator for information
- OSLEP provides all required reading materials at no additional cost-NO books to buy!
- Housing and meals provided
- In-person residential seminar
- This seminar will require a video interview and background check
Scholar
Susan F. Sharp, Ph.D.
The University of Oklahoma
Susan F. Sharp is the Emerita David Ross Boyd Professor and L.J. Semrod Presidential Professor of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma, retiring December 2016. Her research spanned over two decades focusing on the incarceration of women and the impact of corrections policies on families of offenders. Her research was done in partnership with the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth and the Children of Incarcerated Parents Advisory Group, which she co-chaired for over five years. She has also been involved with the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty as well as national groups working on these issues. She is a former board member of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and former chair of the Division on Women and Crime of the ASC. Her work has been recognized by numerous awards at the university as well as at the national level.
She is the author of Hidden Victims: The Effects of the Death Penalty on Families of the Accused (Rutgers University Press, 2005) and Mean Lives, Mean Laws: Oklahoma’s Women Prisoners (Rutgers University Press, 2014) and numerous academic articles and reports.
