This course will give students a sophisticated understanding of the legislative process, especially in New York State, as well as criminal-justice issues pending before contemporary legislatures. Students will also develop their research skills through participation in a unique project to study criminal-justice reform proposals as they proceed through the New York Legislature. The project will empirically assesses how lawmakers discuss, debate, and justify changes to their criminal codes; consider potential drivers of these legislative tendencies; and analyze how (if at all) these tendencies have changed during a period of tremendous disruption in American criminal justice.