Sex Crimes Seminar
This seminar explores the criminal and civil regulation of sex offenses and the related intersection of family status with criminalization. This rapidly-changing area of the law raises significant issues about definitions of harm, the justifications for punishment, and the connection between victimization and offending. Topics will include sexual violence; relational offenses such as statutory rape, child sexual abuse, and incest; exploitation and vice crimes including sex trafficking and prostitution; speech-related sex acts such as pornography, revenge porn, and sexting; 'consensual' or risk-based sex offenses like BDSM, stealthing, and HIV-exposure; and the increasing role of civil law in remedies for victims, and the treatment and containment of those deemed to be "sexually violent predators." We will also think more broadly about policy questions such as the appropriate role of empirics in punishment, and tensions between feminist calls for increased attention to sexual victimization and the disproportionality and social and human costs of mass incarceration.
Grading and Method of Evaluation:
Students will engage in several simulations and short writing exercises, as well as write a major research paper on a topic of their choicethat satisfies the UCWR. Letter grade only.
Grading and Method of Evaluation:
Students will engage in several simulations and short writing exercises, as well as write a major research paper on a topic of their choicethat satisfies the UCWR. Letter grade only.