Brazil - 2019
Study Abroad in Brazil from May 24 to June 6, 2019.
Please contact Dr. Vandiver vandiver@txstate.edu for more information.
Overview:
This trip occurred May 24 – June 6. Eight students attended.
Three CJ faculty attended: Dr. Donna Vandiver, Dr. Angela Jones, and Dr. Stafford. Dr. Stafford and Dr. Vandiver have led several successful trips to Brazil, Cuba, and Russia.
Costs included:
1. Tuition + $200 study abroad fee + insurance: $1,908
2. Airfare: $1,500
3. Program Costs: $2,562
The program costs included hotel, transportation, academic support, and most meals while we are there. Approximately half of the students who participated received scholarship funds to cover part of the costs. We spent most of our time in Belo Horizonte (a big city, about 2.5 million) and Rio de Janeiro. Here are just a few of the highlights while we are were there. We went to a soccer game, local museums, went on a few city tours, and visited a beach in Rio. We had EXCELLENT academic support while we were there, including several seminars by professors and experts in Brazil. We also had some site visits scheduled to the juvenile courts and we met a judge for the regular courts. We saw two trials, one for a drug trafficking and another for murder. Just like any other course, students had assigned readings and related assignments.
We were hosted by Dr. Corinne Davis Rodrigues, who is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department and Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Her teaching areas are crime causation and research methods on the undergraduate and graduate level. She has done research on conflict resolution in Brazilian shanty-towns. Her current research focuses on intra-urban variations in Brazilian crime and the impacts of economic and racial spatial segregation in urban areas on crime and safety.
A typical day included a seminar/discussion at the Federal University of Minas Gerais given by an expert in a criminal justice-related topic in the morning and an afternoon visit to a courthouse or other culturally/academically related site.
Learning Outcomes and Objectives:
1. Compare the similarities and differences between the American criminal justice system and the Brazilian criminal justice system in relation to forms of injustice and inequalities inherent in the two systems.
2. Describe cultural aspects that are inherent in both the United States and Brazilian criminal justice systems.
3. Analyze the theory, history, research, legislation, and policy implications related to the construction of the Brazilian criminal justice system.
4. Identify and explain current national and international trends concerning the Brazilian criminal justice system.
These objectives will be achieved through various activities, including attending pre/post departure meetings and meetings/activities during the study abroad, reading assigned material, participating in discussions, completing assignments, and attending meetings in Brazil.