Mainstreaming Civil Rights in the Law School Curriculum

Abstract

This article embraces the intersection of civil rights issues and criminal law and procedure as an opportunity to genuinely explore relevant concerns of discrimination, abuse of discretion, and injustice with law students. Specific examples of how to infuse the criminal law and criminal procedure curriculum with pertinent civil rights issues are discussed through the use of the Supreme Court cases Whren v. United States and McCleskey v. Kemp. The article describes methods of carving out an academic safe space in the classroom for these important debates of law and policy. It asserts that mainstreaming civil rights issues in required courses provides students with a more complete picture of the legal landscape relevant to the substantive black letter law.

Keywords: criminal law, criminal procedure, civil rights, teaching, curriculum reform, best practices