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assignments are listed on the date assigned, not the day due

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CLASS 1: Thursday 1/31

Welcome to the Course!

Assigned Reading: CLAIM/EVIDENCE/WARRANT (SHOULD TAKE 30 MINUTES TO READ)

Assigned Writing: (due 2/07 by 11:59 PM through Blackboard) HW1: Claim/Evidence/Warrant and Quotations  (this written homework should take one to one and half hours)

(be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not. This assignment will be HW 1)

How to submit homework through blackboard done by my five-year old

NOTE: IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO DO THE WRITTEN HOMEWORK UNLESS YOU’VE DONE THE READING; THIS ASSIGNMENT IS 15% OF YOUR FINAL GRADE

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Crime and Corruption on the Docks, part 1

CLASS 2: Thursday 2/07

Assigned Viewing due 2/14: Because NYC’s port has lost its economic significance, it’s easy for us to forget both how essential were Gotham’s docks and how they gave rise to crime. So, two quick background videos (and yes, this material will be on the quiz!)

So, watch all of this 12-minute film from 1949

and the first 3 minutes of this Port of New York (1949) perhaps the first major-release drug trafficking film:

Assigned Reading due 2/14: : The chapter “The Racket-Ridden Longshoremen” by Daniel Bell (1960); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

QUIZ 1: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail; see here (his_320_2019_Preparation For Quiz 1) for hints to prepare you for quiz 1.

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Crime and Corruption on the Docks, part 2

CLASS 3: Thursday 2/14

 

Assigned Viewing due 2/21: On the Waterfront (1954). This giant of a classic is widely available, including on Amazon prime and, less reliably, on youtube (no promise link working). Be sure to look for a film 1 hour and 40 minutes long–truncated excerpts abound on the internet.

(just the trailer below; you will need to watch whole film)

 

Assigned Writing due 2/21: Essay 1 (Hw 2); (due 2/22 by 2:00 PM–this is the revised deadline to give you more time–by Blackboard) (be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not. This assignment will be Hw 2)

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The Crime Rise and Heroin

CLASS 4: Thursday 2/21

Assigned Reading Due 2/28: Excerpts from Umbach, Modern New York in 50 Crimes (forthcoming); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

QUIZ 2: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

 

 

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Organized Crime’s Second Wave

CLASS 5: Thursday 2/28

Assigned Reading due 3/07: Excerpts from Hortis, The Mob and the City (2014); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

Also, we will read Gladwell, “The Gangster’s Guide to Upward Mobility | The New Yorker” (2014) to see why crime helped lift many Italian mobsters out of poverty (and crime) in mid-century NYC, but hasn’t done the same for other groups since.

QUIZ 3: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

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Police Corruption

CLASS 6: Thursday 3/07

Assigned Viewing due 3/14: Serpico (1973) This film, also a classic, can be found from lots of outlets, including Amazon. If hunting on youtube, be sure to find the full-length movie at 2h 10m.

Assigned Reading due 3/14: Excerpts from  Armstrong, They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission and New York City Police Corruption (2012). You will be reading the preface and chapter 23.  The readings are available as an ebook from John Jay’s Library.  See here on to find the reading (short youtube).

QUIZ 4: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

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CLASS 7: Thursday 3/14

Document Exercise: The Rise of Open Air Drug Markets

Assigned Writing: Essay 2 (Hw 3);  (due 3/22 by 11:59 PM–yes a minute before midnight–by Blackboard) (be sure to follow the course’s file naming convention; -5% if you do not. This assignment will be HW 3)

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Crack and the High Tide of Crime

CLASS 8: Thursday 3/21

Assigned Reading Due Next Class: Bourgois,  In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. (1995) Excerpts from Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 4; see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

QUIZ 5: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

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CLASS 9: Thursday 3/28  (CANCELLED)

Unexpected Responses

Assigned Reading Due Next Class: Michael Javen Fortner, Black Silent Majority (Harvard, 2015), introduction and chapter 4. In my efforts to keep costs down for you for this course, here’s what we are going to do. You can read the introduction to this book on Amazon, using the “look inside” feature of the hard copy of the version (try here); chapter four will be on our Blackboard site under “Course Materials” by tuesday

Assigned Listening Due Next Class: (yes, will be on quiz): here

Quiz 6: to be completed on Bb; you have from 5 PM on Thursday to 11:59 PM on Friday to complete this 40-minute multiple-choice quiz.  Quiz will cover both reading the audio file above.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail.

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The Mafia Contained (NOW, “UNEXPECTED RESPONSES”)

CLASS 9: Thursday 4/11

Unexpected Responses

Assigned Reading Due Next Class: Michael Javen Fortner, Black Silent Majority (Harvard, 2015), introduction and chapter 4. In my efforts to keep costs down for you for this course, here’s what we are going to do. You can read the introduction to this book on Amazon, using the “look inside” feature of the hard copy of the version (try here); chapter four will be on our Blackboard site under “Course Materials” by tuesday

Assigned Listening Due Next Class: (yes, will be on quiz): here

Quiz 6: to be completed on Bb; you have from 5 PM on Thursday to 11:59 PM on Friday to complete this 40-minute multiple-choice quiz.  Quiz will cover both reading the audio file above.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail.

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The Demise of Open Air Drug Markets

CLASS 10: Thursday 4/11

Assigned Reading Due Next Class: Curtis, “The Improbable Transformation of Inner-City Neighborhoods: Crime, Violence, Drugs, and Youth in the 1990s” (1998);  See our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

Quiz 8: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 11 PM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

 

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SPRING BREAK

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The City that Became Safe, part 1

CLASS 11: Thursday 4/18

Assigned Reading Due Next Class (5/02): Zimring, The City That Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control (2013).  Excerpts in Group 1;  Also, excerpts from Sharkey, Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence (2018); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials”

Quiz 9: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

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The City that Became Safe, part 2

CLASS 11: Thursday 5/02

Assigned Reading Due Next Class: Zimring, The City That Became Safe: New York’s Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control (2013); see our Blackboard site under “Course Materials” Excerpts in Group 2.

Quiz 10: to be completed on Bb; you have from 6 AM on Thursday to 6 AM on Friday to complete the quiz; but remember you will only have an hour and half to do the quiz itself.  Directions will be sent to your e-mail

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Backlash and the New Policing

Extra-credit: due through blackboard, May 22, 11:59 pm (minute before midnight). Up to 15 extra-semester points.  Filename: xx_yy_extracredit.See here.