This inquiry leads students through an investigation of historical and contemporary social, political, and economic issues posed by mass incarceration. It is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger. Democracy in Danger lessons share some basic characteristics. The compelling question will always start with the stem– “What should we do about .. because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens. In this case, the issue at hand is the impact of mass incarceration on Unite