for a student interested in studying prison reform?

mariphil · August 4, 2011, 1:12pm

My daughter is an excellent student at a Chicago high school; through a “Civic Week” high school leadership program sponsored by Northwestern, she got reaally into the issue of restorative justice/ prison reform. Athough up to now her focus has been music/writing, she now says she KNOWS this is what she wants to pursue. She would like to go to a LAC rather than big Univ --(a change from her giant public high school). But how do I find a school where she could take courses that in any way relate to this subject matter? And if she changes her mind (hey, it happens!) still be at a school with a good writing/music program?
This is my first headed to college, so am new to – and admittedly overwhelmed by-- it all! Thank you all out there, for whatever suggestions you might have.

charlieschm · August 4, 2011, 1:28pm

One option is to attend a university with a liberal political atmosphere - American University in DC comes to mind. Those types of universities/colleges may not have any coursework on that particular topic, but they may have many offerings on social justice topics and encourage independent study. American’s School of Public Policy has a major called something like Law and Social Justice. There also may be opportunities to communicate with American U.'s law students on these same issues. Going to college in DC also opens up great opportunities for interning with advocacy groups.

Another option is going to college where there is a large prison population and opportunities for volunteer work. Bucknell University in Lewisburg PA is one example. The federal prison inmates in the area probably outnumber the number of local residents. Bucknell is highly respected as an engineering, science and business university, but I don’t believe it is home to large numbers of liberals.

I have a relative who worked for anti-death penalty causes after college. She attended Vassar, and did grad school at Berkeley.

zapfino · August 4, 2011, 2:59pm

Whatever the merits of restorative justice approaches (and there are several), your daughter will still need to gain a good grounding in the theory, research, and methods of a relevant academic discipline and it’s unlikely that she could build an entire program on just that issue or on what could turn out to be a passing passion. Disciplines that probably are mot relevant to her particular interests in restorative justice/prison reform include sociology (subfields of criminology, penology); criminology/criminal justice; social work, and law (at the postgrad level); and, possibly aspects of religious studies, political science/public policy, and international relations (for non-US aspects). Some schools also offer interdisciplinary majors in “legal studies”, “law & society”, or similar program titles. Some schools (particularly, some Catholic/Jesuit schools) have programs in peace & conflict resolution studies or social justice that touch on this topic.

There are some schools that offer courses on this topic, or that have centers/projects that conduct research and service in this area. Some of these are graduate programs and some are not at small schools. I’ve listed some of these below. (I’ll leave it to your daughter to investigate whether these schools also offer good writing/music programs.)

[University</a> of Minnesota Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking](<a href=“http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ssw/rjp/]University”>http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ssw/rjp/)
[Suffolk</a> University - Center for Restorative Justice](<a href=“http://www.suffolk.edu/college/1496.html]Suffolk”>http://www.suffolk.edu/college/1496.html)
[Restorative</a> Justice – Center for Justice & Peacebuilding – Eastern Mennonite University](<a href=“http://www.emu.edu/cjp/restorative-justice/]Restorative”>http://www.emu.edu/cjp/restorative-justice/)
[MA</a> in Restorative Justice - MA in Restorative Justice - University of Hull](<a href=“http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/ma-in-restorative-justice.aspx]MA”>http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/ma-in-restorative-justice.aspx)
[Marquette</a> University Law School - Restorative Justict Initiative](<a href=“http://law.marquette.edu/rji/]Marquette”>http://law.marquette.edu/rji/)

mariphil · August 4, 2011, 3:13pm

thank you for being so helpful!

mariphil · August 4, 2011, 3:17pm

i really appreciate these suggestions

blossom · August 4, 2011, 4:03pm

Any of the social science majors will require statistics in addition to the particular content courses. Your D could end up in this field professionally after majoring in psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, etc… and any good liberal arts college will prepare her well for virtually any aspect of social science.

She might end up in law school- or getting a Masters in Public Policy- or working for an advocacy organization right out of undergrad. So I don’t think using her interest as a filter will be particularly helpful right now. Better to focus on all the other criteria- lots of roads lead to where she thinks she wants to go!

momwonders · August 4, 2011, 5:01pm

You might be interested in the Bard College program Bard Prison Initiative, profiled recently on PBS [Bard</a> Prison Initiative](<a href=“http://bpi.bard.edu/]Bard”>http://bpi.bard.edu/)

While this is not a “major,” it does reflect the approach of the college and there are opportunities to be part of the program.

Bard is also very storng in music and writing.

for a student interested in studying prison reform?

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