Expository Reading & Writing Juvenile Justice

1. Expository Reading & WritingJuvenile Justice Dr. Fleming

2. Activity 1: Quickwrite • Take out a piece of paper for a quickwrite! • Prompt: If you committed a crime, do you think it would be fair for you to be punished the same way as an adult who committed the same crime? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.

3. Activity 2: Exploring Key Concepts • Who is a juvenile? What are some synonyms for “juvenile?” • What are the differences between an adult and a juvenile? Brainstorm a list of qualities that characterize a juvenile but not an adult.

4. Activity 3: Legal Terms You will be given some legal terms and their definitions. After you take notes on them, you will be given a scenario. For each crime that is described, match it with the appropriate legal term

5. Legal Terms to Know • Homicide: the killing of one person by another; can be intentional or unintentional; includes accidents • Murder: the killing of someone with malice of forethought; can be done committing another crime; always illegal

6. More Legal Terms • First-degree murder: the killing of a person with malice of forethought; it was planned and done deliberately • Second-degree murder: is killing done during a crime deemed dangerous to a human life; most likely not committed with the intention of killing

7. Legal Terms Manslaughter • Voluntary manslaughter is killing someone intentionally but without malice of forethought. For example, if the killing was a crime of passion (killing a spouse or lover because of jealousy), the intention was to kill. However, there was no malice of forethought because it was not planned.

8. Legal Terms Manslaughter • Involuntary manslaughter is killing someone unlawfully but without malice of forethought. It was committed without intent to kill and without a conscious disregard for human life.

9. Activity 3: Scenario 1 • A troubled seventeen-year-old girl has slowly poisoned her parents each night at dinner. After three months she came home to find them dead on the kitchen floor. The coroner’s report indicated that cyanide poisoning caused their deaths. • 1st degree murder • Sentenced to life in prison without parole

10. Scenario 2 • Three sixteen-year-olds were hanging out at the park drinking whiskey. One boy started shoving his friend. Soon the shoving escalated into punching. One boy tripped, and his head hit a sharp-edged rock. The boy died before help arrived. • 2nd degree murder • Sentenced to 3 years in prison after being tried as an adult

11. Scenario 3 • Suspicious that his girlfriend was cheating, a sixteen-year-old boy went to her house and found her in bed with his brother. Impulsively, he grabbed the nearest lamp and hit his brother on the head. His brother died two days later. • Voluntary manslaughter • Sentenced to six years in prison

12. Scenario 4 • A thirteen-year-old boy broke into an auto parts business to steal hubcaps. The seventeen-year-old security guard picked up his boss’s gun and fired two warning shots at the thief. The second shot hit the thirteen-year-old and killed him on the spot. • Involuntary manslaughter • Sentenced to 15 years to life

13. Activity 4: Surveying the Text • Look at the title of the first 2 articles. What do you predict they will be about? • What can you predict about the articles simply based on where and when they were published? Who is the target audience? How credible will these articles be? • What issue do you think these articles are going to discuss? What position do you think each author will take?

14. Activity 5: Making Predictions • Read the first 3 paragraphs of “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” • What do you think is the purpose of the text? • Read the first 6 paragraphs of “Kids are Kids” silently • What is Lundstrom’s opinion on the topic of juvenile justice? • Turn the title of each article into a question.

15. Activity 6: Key Vocabulary • Create a semantic map for one of the following ideas: Juvenile Crime or Justice System

16. Activity 7: Vocabulary Assessment • Complete the vocabulary chart by finding the definitions of each in small groups.

17. Activity 8: First Read • The purpose of a first read is to read “with the grain” or “playing the believing game” • Annotate the parts of the article (Hook, thesis, claims, conclusion), rhetorical devices (ethos, pathos, logos, counter-argument, syllogism, building common ground, etc.), definitions of terms, and personal reactions / connections

18. Activity 8: Juvenile Case Chart • Create a chart with 4 columns and 6 rows • List the defendant in column 1 • List his or her age in column 2 • List details of his/her crime in column 3 • List the sentence in column 4 • Here is a sample…

19. Activity 9: Consider the Structure of the Text

20. Activity 7 • 3. Describe the demeanor of Nathaniel Brazzil. (“Startling Finds…”). Do you think that such a demeanor would cause a jury to be lenient? • 4. Do you think execution should be banned for some age groups of juveniles? Which age groups?

21. More Activity 7 • 5. What factors do you think juries should take into account when they sentence juveniles? • 6. Do you agree with Lundstrom that it is inconsistent to deny privileges like voting and drinking to teenagers but then to sentence them as adults? Explain why or why not.

22. Activity 7 • 7. Do you think that juveniles should be tried as adults if they commit especially bad crimes? Use the word “heinous.” • 8. Do you agree with Lundstrom that the media perpetuates the stereotype of violent youths?

23. Activity 8: Rereading the Text • In “Startling Finds…” article, be sure you have labeled and identified the following: introduction, the issue/problem, arguments made, examples given, conclusion. • Now… look closely at the language used throughout the article. Use a highlighter or circle the following focus words:

24. Activity 8 • Paragraph 2: dazed, immaturity, quizzical, verdicts • Paragraph 4: impulsive, eratic • Paragraph 6: abstract concepts • Paragraph 7: massive, purged, violent passions, rash, vastly • Paragraph 9: diminished • Paragraph 10: maelstrom, accountability, startling, drastic

25. Activity 9: Analyzing Stylistic Choices • The choices writers make when they select certain words to construct sentences create certain effects for their readers! • Take a look at groups of words given and write an analysis for how the reading audience would be influenced.

26. Activity 10: Considering Structure of the Text • Read the first 3 paragraphs of “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains.” Listen to the sample precis. • Write a precis in your group for the following sections: paragraph 4, 5-7, 8-9,

27. Activity 11: Summarizing and Responding • Read and annotate “Many Kids Called Unfit for Adult Trial” • Write a summary and response (not a precis)

28. Activity 12: Web Work • Do a Web search for Proposition 21, the California proposition that gave prosecutors the power to decide whether juveniles should be charged as adults for certain crimes. • Read the arguments for and against the proposition, and consider your findings during Activity 13: Thinking Critically Socratic Seminar!

29. Activity 20: On-Demand Writing Assignment • On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that juveniles who committed murder could not be sentenced to life in prison because it violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the majority, stated that “Mandatory life without parole for a juvenile precludes consideration of his chronological age and its hallmark features—among them, immaturity, impetuosity, and failure to appreciate risks and consequences. It prevents taking into account the family and home environment that surrounds him— and from which he cannot usually extricate himself—no matter how brutal or dysfunctional.”

30. Activity 20: On-Demand Writing Assignment • However, four justices strongly disagreed, arguing that mandatory sentences reflected the will of American society that heinous crimes committed by juveniles should always be punished with a sentence to life in prison. Justice Alito noted that otherwise, “Even a 17 ½-year-old who sets off a bomb in a crowded mall or guns down a dozen students and teachers is a ‘child’ and must be given a chance to persuade a judge to permit his release into society…”

31. Activity 20: On-Demand Writing Assignment • Write an essay analyzing the issues raised by these arguments. Be sure to indicate which side you most strongly agree with. Support your position, providing reasons and examples from your own experience and observations, discussions you have participated in, and texts you have read for this module. Your essay should be as clearly focused, well organized, and carefully written as you can make it.

32. Activity 20: On-Demand Writing Assignment • Questions such as the ones below will help you plan what you want say before you begin to draft your essay. • Do you agree with the majority of Supreme Court justices who argued to abolish mandatory life in prison for juveniles who commit murder or with the minority who argued to retain it? • Which author or authors that we have read support your position? What evidence do they provide? • Which author or authors support those who disagree with you? What evidence do they provide?