Richard H. McAdams : Courses and Seminars
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Autumn 2009
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Winter 2010
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Workshop: Public Law and Legal Theory
LAWS 63402
The Public Law and Legal Theory Workshop, a new offering for 2009-10, brings together the former workshops on Law and Politics, Crime and Punishment, and Legal History. Working from a variety of methodological orientations, the workshop examines questions arising at the intersections of public law, legal theory, and interdisciplinary work in law and the social sciences. Sessions are devoted to the presentation and discussion of papers by faculty members from other institutions. Students must enroll for the entire year and will receive one pass/fail credit. Students are required to read the papers, attend the workshop, ask questions, and to submit one reaction paper per quarter on a paper of their choosing.
Spring 2010
Jacob Gersen, Bernard E. Harcourt, Alison LaCroix, Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams, David A. Strauss
Greenberg Seminar: Crime in the City of Big Shoulders
LAWS 95942
Chicago has a storied history of crimes both great and small, public and private. We will discuss historic and contemporary crime in the City of Chicago, ranging from famous murders nearly a century ago to modern issues of gangs and criminal justice. We will read: For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder that Shocked Chicago; Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse; and Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets; along with books on the Chicago mob and 19th century vice crimes (to be chosen later). We will meet on Oct. 21, Nov. 18, Jan. 13, Feb. 24, and April 21.
Autumn 2009
Jonathan Masur, Richard H. McAdams
Criminal Law
LAWS 30311
This course, offered over two sequential quarters, addresses the doctrines of criminal liability and the moral and social problems of crime. The definitions of crimes and defenses are considered in light of the purposes of punishment and the role of the criminal justice system, including police and correctional agencies. The student's grade is based on class participation and a single final examination.
Autumn 2009
Richard H. McAdams
Criminal Law
LAWS 30311
This course, offered over two sequential quarters, addresses the doctrines of criminal liability and the moral and social problems of crime. The definitions of crimes and defenses are considered in light of the purposes of punishment and the role of the criminal justice system, including police and correctional agencies. The student's grade is based on class participation and a single final examination.
Winter 2010
Richard H. McAdams
Independent Research
LAWS 49901
Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
Autumn 2009
Richard H. McAdams
Expressive Dimensions in Law
LAWS 77702
People often make descriptive or normative claims about law or legal action based on what one or the other says. For example, people claim that law has positive or negative symbolic value, that legal actions such as prosecutions or convictions send a message, or that the law influences behavior by its expressive power, separate and apart from its sanctions or legitimacy. In criminal law, some theorists have distinguished punishment from penalties (or prices) by the nature of what punishment expresses. Others claim that we can't legalize sales of human organs or illicit drugs without sending the wrong message. In the law of equality, some theorists have identified the wrong of discrimination, including state discrimination in violation of equal protection, by the nature of what a discriminatory act expresses. Still other theorists posit that law influences behavior across domains by signaling information or by changing the social meaning of an action. Occasionally, the law tries to regulate the state's expression, as in the interpretation of the Establishment Clause that prohibits state action that endorses religion. In this seminar, we will examine these many different kinds of expressive claims in legal theory and try to come to a more considered, systematic view about them. A student's grade will be based on reaction papers, a short (10-12 page) research paper, and class participation.
Autumn 2009
Richard H. McAdams
Criminal Procedure I: The Investigative Process
LAWS 47201
The course focuses on the constitutional law that governs searches, seizures, and confessions. The course considers in detail the evolution of the exclusionary rule and the development and administration of the probable cause and warrant requirements. It also examines stop and frisk, administrative searches, searches incident to arrest, vehicle searches, consent searches, and the admissibility of confessions. The student's grade is based on a final examination.
Spring 2010
Richard H. McAdams
Independent Research
LAWS 49901
Second- and third-year students may earn course credit by independent research under the supervision of a member of the faculty. Such projects are arranged by consultation between the student and the particular member of the faculty in whose field the proposed topic falls.
Winter 2010
Richard H. McAdams
