11.7 Going Deeper
Elizabeth B. Pearce
Having read and thought about justice from a variety of lenses, this page has some resources for you.
First, there are some resources that the authors used but could not fit into the chapter. If there was something that really piqued your interest and made you want to learn more, it may be listed in this table. This is also a resource for students who may have an assignment to research a particular topic or who need to identify a topic for a final project. Scan through “Want to Learn More?” if you are interested.
Next, you will see a set of reflective questions. You may be assigned these questions as a chapter review, or perhaps you will be using them as discussion questions in class. These questions are designed to help you apply the chapter concepts, develop your sociological imagination, reflect, and use an equity lens. Look over the “Reflective Questions” if you’d like to explore your own thinking more thoroughly.
After that, you will see the same list of key terms that appeared at the start of the chapter. They may help you with your additional exploration or research.
Finally, some chapters include activities that the instructor may use in the classroom.
Want to Learn More?
- If you would like to more clearly understand the structure and interrelationships of the government and justice systems, these openly licensed and free texts are useful:
- American Government, 2nd Edition from the University of Oklahoma
- Introduction to the American Criminal Justice System from Southern Oregon University
- Learn more about definitions and philosophy of justice with What Is Justice? Crash Course Philosophy #40, a 10-minute video.
- For recent history and up-to-date changes about cannabis legality, consult the Cannabis in the United States page here.
- Learn more about the Osage Indian murders here.
- Want to know more about the Say Her Name movement? This is the place.
- Click here to read more of the personal stories from the National Immigration Law Center.
Reflective Questions
- How is justice typically defined? How does it apply to families in the United States?
- What are some examples of these kinds of justice that you have read about in this chapter (or other parts of the textbook)?
- Procedural
- Distributive
- Retributive
- Restorative
- What do the founding documents of our country tell us about justice?
- How do race, ethnicity, gender, immigration and socioeconomic status intersect to create differing experiences with justice?
- Reflect on the ways that the criminalization of poverty affects families.
- Which chapters by the student authors (Heather Denherder, Alexis Castenada-Perez, Christopher Byers, and Carla Medel) can you relate to your own life or observations?
- In what ways has your family experienced justice and injustice? What topics would you add to this chapter?
Key Terms
- Criminalization: the act of making an activity or person illegal by making their activity a criminal offense.
- Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): a U.S. immigration policy that allows individuals who arrived in the United States as children to remain and work in the country for a renewable period of two years. This policy has been legalized and implemented inconsistently in the 2000s.
- Implicit bias: an unconscious tendency to favor one person, group, or point of view over another, usually based on social characteristics such as gender, sexuality, race, or socioeconomic status.
- Incarceration: being confined within a prison or jail.
- Militarization: the process of preparing for war or another conflict; can refer to the transformation of a civilian agency becoming more like a military operation.
- Social justice: focuses on equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal treatment as well as meaningful actions to correct past discrimination.
- Substance Use Disorder (SUD): a disease that affects the brain and includes the uncontrolled use of something despite harmful consequences (sometimes called substance abuse).
Activity: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
If you would like to understand the complexities surrounding the search for missing and murdered Indigenous women, listen to the 1A podcast in figure 11.13.
https://the1a.org/segments/search-missing-murdered-indigenous-women/
In this podcast, you will hear interviews with the parents of murdered Indigenous women and learn about the data related to missing and murdered Indigenous women (timestamp 12:07), as well as what legal and police action is being taken on this issue.
Discussion Questions
- What did you hear or learn that was new to you?
- How does this lack of police and legal action related to missing and murdered Native American women relate to implicit bias, the social construction of difference, or other concepts you have studied in this text?
- This website tracks federal legislation related to missing and murdered Indigenous women. What is new since this podcast aired in 2020?
- What are some strategies (named in the podcast or via your own brainstorming) that would help bring more equity for Indigenous women?
Licenses and Attributions for Going Deeper
Open Content, Original
“Going Deeper” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
“Activity: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
All Rights Reserved
“The Search for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women” © WAMU. License: Fair Use.
concerned with equity, equality, fairness and sometimes punishment.
a systematic investigation into a particular topic, examining materials, sources, and/or behaviors.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
the categorization of humans using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc.
the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences, stemming from common national, ancestral, or regional backgrounds, that make subgroups of a population different from one another.
a socially constructed expression of a person’s sexual identity which influences the status, roles, and norms for their behavior.
the act of making an activity or person illegal by making their activity a criminal offense.
an unconscious tendency to favor one person, group, or point of view over another usually based on social characteristics such as gender, sexuality, race or socioeconomic status.
meaning assigned to an object or event by mutual agreement (explicit or implicit) of the members of a society; can change over time and/or location.
