Overview You will complete three (3) short (2-4 pages) writing assignments (papers) over the course of this semester, and you will have tremendous flexibility in some aspects of their design: You will choose the topics and select the readings, and thereby select the due dates for them. Your goal is to use sociological knowledge and perspectives from the course materials to investigate and consider whether representations of law in fictional television programs reflect what we know about legal reality – in particular, about how these legal agents are known to behave in the “real world”. Shows You will be relating readings from the course to fictional, dramatic television programs about courts, police, and/or prisons – that is, one of the major types of legal agents (including lawyers, judges, juries, etc.) You may choose either three different shows or three episodes of the same show, but must do one or the other. (You are not permitted to do two episodes of one show and then one episode of a second show.) A list of suggested shows is included on the second page of this assignment. Some are no longer running, but may be in syndication, on DVD, or available online (YouTube, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, etc.). Whichever show you pick, remember that your focus will be on those aspects which are connected to the course, and to the readings you choose. Some of the options (*) may be less amenable than others, because only some episodes will illustrate and depict instances of legal behavior (that is, behavior of law, the law, or legal agents, rather than depictions of criminality.) Contact me before writing about a show not listed. I will not approve movies, documentaries, news programs, reality shows, comedies, or animations. Also, while there are plenty of shows with criminal, or potentially criminal, content, this course is the sociology of law, the readings are about law, and so the show needs to have some law in it (legal content, legal behavior, legal agents, legal systems, etc.) to "work" for this assignment. Readings For each paper, you will pick one class meeting and relate your selected episode to that date’s readings. The readings selected can be listed as required or recommend on the course website – but must be listed there. Each paper must be about readings for a different class. (For example, if there are three readings for one day, that can’t be all three of your papers.) You must clearly identify, at the top of your submission, what reading is used, you must clearly reference it in the paper. If you reuse a reading or class date, the 2nd (and 3rd, if there is one) submission will not be accepted. Papers Papers should be no fewer than two pages, and probably no more than four. I don’t grade based on length, and shorter or longer won’t affect your grade directly. However, anything shorter isn’t providing sufficient detail to illustrate your observations and grasp of course material, and any longer may mean too much detail and/or that you’re being insufficiently concise. You must provide, at the top right of the first page or on a cover page, clear indication of your name, the show observed, the lecture date of the reading discussed, the date of submission, and which paper (#1, #2, #3, or Extra Credit) it is. If the paper does not actually include discussion of both the reading and the episode – if, for example, no show is identified, no particular episode is discussed, no elements of the reading are mentioned, etc. – it will not be graded, and will be recorded as a zero