The aim:
1. Students develop their understanding of the role of racial/ethnic/gender stereotypes in the pursuit of criminal justice.
2. Students learn about the critical race theory and the approaches to race / ethnicity in law and legal practice.
3. Students learn about feminist legal theories and its critique of law.
4. Students learn about experiences of racial / ethnic minorities in the context of criminal justice.
5. Students learn about experiences of women / transgender persons in the context of criminal justice.

Acquired knowledge:
1. Students know the history of racism, racial segregation and racial discrimination.
2. Students understand that ideas of “crime”, “criminals”, “victim” and “justice” are socially and culturally determined.
3. Students are familiar with landmark rulings on race, ethnicity and gender in several jurisdictions.
4. Students understand that race, and gender biases are reflected in the criminal justice system.
5. Students identify barriers to access to justice for racial and ethnic minorities and women.

Acquired skills:
1. Students have the ability to analyse, and evaluate cases involving hate crime or hate speech.
2. Students critically discuss judgments in which race, ethnicity or gender of the perpetrator/victim was a significant factor.
3. Students detect negative attitudes, stereotypes, and bias against racial / ethnic groups or women persisting among police, judges, lawyers, and other state agents.
4. Students advance arguments about criminal process – based on positive obligations, burdens of proof, or rebuttable presumptions – to overcome systemic discrimination within the justice system.
5. Students design simple cases for strategic litigation.

Acquired social skills:
1. Students are sensitive to injustice.
2. Students learn to work individually and in team to develop their case studies.
3. students are critical of decisions that constitute a denial of justice.

Course contents: 
1. Race as a legal category in the US and Europe.
2. Racially-motivated crimes.
3. Hate speech and Holocaust denialism.
4. Hate crimes and Anti-Gypsism in Europe.
5. Racial / ethnic profiling.
6. Race / ethnicity / gender and criminal sentencing.
7. Women / transgender persons / racial or ethnic minorities in prisons.
8. Gender-based violence.
9. Domestic violence.
10. Pornography.
11. Cultural defense in criminal trials.
12. FGM/male circumcision.

Recommended reading: 
1. Class, Race, Gender and Crime: the Social Realities of Justice in America, Barack G., Flavin J., Leighton P., Roxbury. 2001.
2. The Oxford Handbook of Crime and Criminal Justice, Tonry M., Oxford Unifersity Press. 2011.
3. The Handbook of Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice, Martinez R. et al, Wiley. 2018.
4. The Handbook of Race, Ethnicity, Crime, and Justice, Fitz-Gibbon K., Walklate S., Routledge. 2018.

Additional reading: 
1. Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence: A Commentary on the Istanbul Convention (Elgar Commentaries in Human Rights series), de Vido S., Frulli M (eds.), Edward Elgar Publishing (December 28, 2023). 2023.