I'm teaching a journalism class this fall in which I've made David Simon's "Homicide" a required book. It's a terrific book overall, but I chose it because of its examination of the system as a whole. But as you can imagine, a book that involves following the Baltimore homicide department around unavoidably gets pretty grisly, even with Simon's treatment of it (that is, in the way The Wire is quite possibly one of the most boring shows ever about police work, while being also the best show on TV ever). There's lots of details about murders and rapes (the central event involves the rape and murder of a child).
That said, it is a journalism class, and students who actually become journalists should expect to report on such traumas on a fairly regular basis. So I don't feel that concerned about using the book for journalism class. I'll probably warn students not to read the chapter about autopsies while eating. If I were in another liberal arts/humanities departments, I might take pause (but I have no idea what it's like to be an instructor in any other departments, so don't take my opinion as having any insight to other departments or their proclivities)
That said, it is a journalism class, and students who actually become journalists should expect to report on such traumas on a fairly regular basis. So I don't feel that concerned about using the book for journalism class. I'll probably warn students not to read the chapter about autopsies while eating. If I were in another liberal arts/humanities departments, I might take pause (but I have no idea what it's like to be an instructor in any other departments, so don't take my opinion as having any insight to other departments or their proclivities)