Discussions about the criminal legal system often focus on its “front end”: policing, prosecution, adjudication, and sentencing. This seminar will examine the system’s “back end”: prison release and re-entry. Through historical, sociological, and legal lenses, the seminar will explore prison release and re-entry from the early 20th century to the present. Every student will be required to write a final research paper, which may satisfy the Upper Level Writing Requirement.