Tag Archives: Ethics

“The Prison-Industrial Complex,” Death Row Interview, Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1996

September 20, 2019 7:46 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To view video click here: Mumia Abu-Jamal “The Prison-Industrial Complex,” 

Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) is an American convicted murderer, sentenced to death for the December 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been described as “perhaps the best known Death-Row prisoner in the world”, and his sentence is one of the most debated today. Before his arrest he was a member of the Black Panther Party, an activist, part-time cab driver, journalist, radio personality, news commentator and broadcaster. Since his conviction, his case has received international attention and he has become a controversial cultural icon. Supporters and opponents disagree on the appropriateness of the death penalty, whether he is guilty, or whether he received a fair trial. During his imprisonment he has published several books and other commentaries, notably Live from Death Row.

The YouTube video was posted by Esoteric Word Views.  Can be used for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision.

Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

“Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis, 2003

September 20, 2019 7:14 pm /

Submitted by: Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Professor, Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Dept of Africana Studies at John Jay College

To read online, click here: “Are Prisons Obsolete?”

There is abundant evidence that the current system of punishment and imprisonment is out of control and ineffective as a means of rendering more people equal, safe, secure, and otherwise free. Nevertheless, there seems to be a presumption that before replacing any of this outdated, ineffective, destructive, and obsolete system, we must first discover, create, or otherwise imagine an alternative one that is first proven to be effective and all-encompassing. Angela Davis further supports the abolition argument and provides some very clear and tangible reasons to further examine the impact of the prison industrial complex, rather than continuing with prison reform.

This book was retrieved from an organization website: The Collective Liberation. The Catalyst Project helps to build powerful multiracial movements that can win collective liberation. In the service of this vision, we organize, train and mentor white people to take collective action to end racism, war and empire, and to support efforts to build power in working-class communities of color. Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act. The book states that it is an “open media” book.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , ,

“An Essay on Crimes and Punishments” by Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, 1764

August 6, 2019 3:50 pm /

Submitted by: Mark Alpert, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online: Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments [1764]

“On Crimes and Punishments (Italian: Dei delitti e delle pene [dei deˈlitti e ddelle ˈpeːne]), is a treatise written by Cesare Beccaria, an Italian criminologist, in 1764. The treatise condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of penology.”

This is a library resource and can be accessed using the John Jay login. The full text of this legal classic is available on the HEINONLINE database.

Posted in: 1700-1899, Europe, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL) / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Paranoid Empire: Specters from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib” by Anne McClintock, 2009

July 23, 2019 6:09 pm /

Submitted by: Kristin Carter, Adjunct Faculty, Interdisciplinary Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To view online: “Paranoid Empire: Specters from Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib”

“The question is still open: what is the purpose of Guantánamo Bay? Is it a prison for “terrorists”? Is it an interrogation camp for suspects? Or is it perhaps something altogether more harrowing?”

Author states: “By now it is fair to say that the United States has come to be dominated by two grand and dangerous hallucinations: the promise of benign US globalization and the permanent threat of the “war on terror.” I have come to feel that we cannot understand the extravagance of the violence to which the US government has committed itself after 9/11—two countries invaded, thousands of innocent people imprisoned, killed, and tortured—unless we grasp a defining feature of our moment, that is, a deep and disturbing doubleness with respect to power. Taking shape, as it now does, around fantasies of global omnipotence (Operation Infinite Justice, the War to End All Evil) coinciding with nightmares of impending attack, the United States has entered the domain of paranoia: dream world and catastrophe. For it is only in paranoia that one finds simultaneously and in such condensed form both deliriums of absolute power and forebodings of perpetual threat.”

This is a library resource accessed using John Jay credentials.  From: Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, 2009, 2007, Vol.13(1), p.50

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,

“What is Justice?: Classic and Contemporary Readings” by Robert C. Solomon and Mark C. Murphy, 1990

March 29, 2019 6:24 pm /

Submitted by:  Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

This book is not available online. However, it is available in the John Jay Library stacks at JC 578 .W47 1990. Since the publication of John Rawls’s monumental “A Theory of Justice” in 1971, justice has been increasingly prominent as a topic in social, political, and moral philosophy. Until now, however, no single collection has offered both classical sources and a concise overview of the current debate. This uniquely comprehensive anthology presents a wide range of writings on the concept of justice, bringing together substantial excerpts from the most important historical and classical texts–Homer, Plato, Aristotle, the Bible, the Quran–and selections from other and more recent work–Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Engels, Rawls, Nozick, Walzer, Nagel. The book is exceptionally broad in scope, representing an extensive variety of different viewpoints, and including such major topics as the historical origins of justice, social contract theory, the right to private property, the notion of community, the problem of punishment, and the concept of fairness. The first anthology devoted solely to the idea of justice–its current definitions and historical antecedents–this book will help readers make sense of this complex and vastly important topic.
This is a copyrighted book and is not available in the John Jay Library as an ebook. However, the book may be checked out of the library and is located at JC 578 .W47 1990.
Posted in: 1990-1999, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,

“Justice” by Michael Sandel: An Online Course Presented by Harvard University, 2019

March 29, 2019 6:17 pm /
Submitted by:  Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
To take course, click here: “Justice Course”: Harvard University (2019)
“Sandel explains theories of justice…with clarity and immediacy; the ideas of Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Robert Nozick and John Rawls have rarely, if ever, been set out as accessibly…. In terms we can all understand, ‘Justice’ confronts us with the concepts that lurk, so often unacknowledged, beneath our conflicts.”  (Jonathan Rauch, New York Times). This is an introduction to moral and political philosophy, offering an opportunity to discuss contemporary dilemmas and controversies. The course includes the following:
This course is available online as open access.
Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,
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