Based on the readings and lecture from Week One (Davis Ch. 1 and the Kaba and Hayes article) carefully explain what you think the authors mean by prison abolition. What are some of the core ideas behind abolition, according to these authors?

Each answer should be a minimum of 600 words.
Please number your answers to indicate which two questions you are responding to.
For the readings, I numbered the readings. I put “Question 1” for readings that should be based off Question 1. There are 2 readings for Question 1. I put “Question 2” for readings that should be based off Question 2. PLEASE USE ALL OF THOSE AND CITE THEM. THANK YOU.
1) Based on the readings and lecture from Week One (Davis Ch. 1 and the Kaba and Hayes article) carefully explain what you think the authors mean by prison abolition. What are some of the core ideas behind abolition, according to these authors? In your answer, make sure you give clear examples from the readings to support your points. Why do the authors claim it is so difficult if not impossible to imagine a society without prisons? In your answer, make sure you explain why it’s important for these authors for everyone to reflect on and ask questions about prison abolition. Finally, include your own assessment of Week One readings—in particular, explain why you do or do not agree with what the authors are claiming. As you answer this part of the question, think about what assumptions you have developed about the prison in American society, where you learned these ideas, and whether you think there can be real justice without prisons.
2) Using the readings, lecture, and articles from Week Two, carefully explain what it means to say that crime is a social construction. In your own words, explain what it means to think of “crime” as socially constructed? In your answer, explain why Reiman compares the criminal justice system to a carnival mirror. Make sure that you provide concrete examples from the reading and our class lecture to illustrate this comparison as best as you can. What key argument is Reiman making with his metaphor of the “carnival mirror”? How does the carnival mirror deceive us? What does this say about the threats we perceive as dangerous and thus, punish as criminal? Finally, briefly explain why you agree or don’t agree with Reiman’s theory of the criminal justice system as a carnival mirror.

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