If you are interested at all in philosophy or have interest in pursuing a career in law or philosophy then Philosophy of Crime and Justice is the class for you. This class offers an in depth look at the philosophical principles that serve as the foundation of our legal system. This includes things such as mens rea, culpability, and the justification for punishments. This class may test your critical thinking limits, but don’t worry because the professor Dr. Lindeman is more than happy to spend time with you one on one to help you better understand the class work. She offers in person office hours, as well as responding to your emails in a timely manner (which we can all agree is great to see from a professor). This class will walk you through every aspect of legal thought, from how we should hold those who commit wrong doing accountable, to why states should or should not punish the poor. The readings are long, but don’t let that discourage you as the reading tend to be very interesting. Even if you aren’t interested in them, let’s say for instance you want to pursue a career in law, this is a good starting point. While many of the principles you encounter might seem like common sense, the scholarly works you will be reading will open your mind to why things are the way they are, or rather, do things need to be the way they are. The structure of this class means that you can learn to a certain extent at your own pace, and you will get out of the class everything that you put into it. Dr. Lindeman does not make assignments mandatory, except for the end of the week self-reflections. This style of learning means that you can learn as much as you want to learn, and if one section is particularly tricky to you, you can just choose to gloss over it. This means that if something is particularly interesting to you, you can use it as an opportunity to talk about it with your classmates and write medium posts discussing it. Attending class is especially important for this course, as a lot of the material would be difficult to understand otherwise. I think that if you wanted a class to challenge you mentality, help you build critical thinking skills, learn about the philosophical principles of crime and justice, then this is the right class for you.
