1. How do the cases of police misconduct and racial profiling in the country represent instrumental theory statement? “Criminal law and the criminal justice system act solely as instruments for controlling the poor, have-not members of society by those who hold positions of political and economic power who define what is illegal or criminal behavior,” To what extent do you agree or disagree? Explain. Please keep in mind that critical criminology is just another theory, please use critical thinking supported by evidence from the chapter to make your case. Please restrain from making the case just based on a personal opinion or on biased news sources. This is a good exercise to practice critical thinking (using facts to support your arguments and looking for alternative ideas of thinking). After the critical thinking analysis, you can share your personal opinion, but please do not use stereotypes implying generalizations, better to say some police officers in some areas of the country are… or some African Americans in some areas are…some white people…
2. Based on the chapter’s section on “Critical Theory and Restorative Justice,” do you think that “restorative justice” is a good strategy to heal the distrust between police departments and communities in the specific cases of Ferguson and Baltimore? Please explain
3. Share with the class a question that comes to your mind.
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