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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Boston Public Schools Capstone Project

For Students Pre-K - 1st
The (Boston Public Schools) Capstone Project is an opportunity for students to engage in rigorous project-based learning. It is an opportunity for our students to develop skills to be life, career, and college-ready in a culturally...
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Activity
Scholastic

Scholastic: John Doe in a u.s. Court

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site from Scholastic provides a well-written essay describes the federal court system and its jurisdiction including the '7 steps in justice.'
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Article
PBS

Pbs Newshour Extra: Exonerated Prisoners Face Uphill Climb

For Students 9th - 10th
Video and article report on the struggles faced by people who have been found to have been wrongly convicted of crimes when they are finally released from prison. Includes critical thinking questions.
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Article
BBC

Bbc: Oscar Pistorious: I Did Not Pick on Reeva Steenkamp

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the latest news in the trial of Oscar Pistorious, the athlete accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
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Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Un(re)solved: Frontline: Interactive

For Students 9th - 10th
Un(re)solved tells the stories of lives cut short and examines a federal effort to investigate more than 150 cold cases that date back to the civil rights era. Learn about and speak the names of the many people whose lives were lost...
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Website
CNN

Cnn: Opinion: Kids Should Never Be Tried as Adults

For Students 9th - 10th
In this editorial, the author outlines the case for why minors who commit crimes should not be tried as adults. Includes examples, including that of a 9 year old tried in the adult justice system.
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: In Re Gault (1967)

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This mini-instructional activity covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that said juvenile offenders have a right to due process. Young scholars learn about 14th Amendment due process, fairness, and the specific rights...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Whose Streets?: Lesson Plan Clips

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson plan provides a framework for critical analysis of current and historic race relations in America through the lens of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, Jr., a young unarmed black man, by white police officer Darren Wilson...
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Lesson Plan
iCivics

I Civics: Sources of Law

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson teaches students about the sources, types, and unique systems of law that exist in the United States. They learn about sources of law from the Constitution to local ordinances and also compare and contrast civil and criminal...
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Handout
Bill of Rights Institute

Bill of Rights Institute: James Wilson

For Students 9th - 10th
James Wilson lived what one might call a double life. His formidable intellect, passion for politics, and willingness to fight for his beliefs made him one of the most influential leaders of his time. On the other hand, his penchant for...
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Article
BBC

Bbc Newsround: Cameras Allowed to Film in Court of Appeal

For Students 1st - 5th
Article reports that cameras are going to be allowed in one of the highest courts in England and Wales. Includes information about the history leading up to the decision.
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Primary
Thomson Reuters

Find Law: u.s. Supreme Court: In Re Gault (1967)

For Students 9th - 10th
Full court transcript of 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a juvenile, Gerald Gault.
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Unit Plan
National Archives (UK)

National Archives Learning Curve: Crime and Punishment: Punishment Before 1450

For Students 9th - 10th
What were the purposes of punishments given by courts in the Middle Ages? This question is reviewed in this Learning Curve challenge. Students are given primary evidence and two case studies - Medieval punishments and Capital punishments...
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Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Scottsboro Boys" by Jessica Mc Birney

For Students 7th - 8th Standards
A learning module that begins with the "The Scottsboro Boys" by Jessica McBirney, accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free...
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Handout
CommonLit

Common Lit: Text Sets: Modern Democracy in America

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a collection of 19 Grade-Leveled texts (6-12) on the topic Modern Democracy in America. How does democracy function in modern-day America? Learn how a bill becomes a law, the role of American presidents, and much more in this...
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Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Holes" by Louis Sacher

For Students 5th - 8th
Stanley Yelnats is sent to a juvenile correctional camp for boys where each day he is forced to dig holes into a dry lake bed. Selected (8) reading passages (grades 5-8) to pair with the novel "Holes" by Louis Sacher. [Free account...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: How Al Capone Spent His Time in Alcatraz

For Students 9th - 10th
Public Enemy #1 was transferred to the now-infamous island prison a few weeks after it opened. To Americans of the 1920s and '30s, he was the notorious gangster Scarface Al, Public Enemy No. 1. But when he arrived at Alcatraz in late...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Alcatraz Escapes: 14 Breakout Attempts From the Island Prison

For Students 9th - 10th
To ditch Alcatraz, the infamous federal penitentiary, inmates tried everything from papier-mache masks to a military impersonation to a bloody revolt. Over those three decades, the infamous prison known as "The Rock" housed more than...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Was the Escape From Alcatraz Successful?

For Students 9th - 10th
A 2013 letter to the FBI, if real, suggests the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris survived one of the most daring and dangerous prison breaks of all time. It was one of the most ingenious prison breaks of all time -- if it worked. In...
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Now: Do Now: Should Teens Who Commit Serious Crimes Be Sentenced as Adults?

For Students 9th - 10th
Click on Watch on YouTube to watch the FRONTLINE film "Stickup Kid." Then Do Now activity, students engage in a conversation around teen sentencing and discuss the question: Should teens under 18 be tried and sentenced as children or...
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Primary
PBS

Pbs: Interview With Bennett Gershman, Former Prosecutor

For Students 9th - 10th
Why does the criminal justice system resist reopening cases based on new DNA evidence? This former prosecutor sheds light on the answer in this informative interview.
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Primary
PBS

Pbs: Interview With Jim Liebman, Constitutional Law Professor at Columbia Univ.

For Students 9th - 10th
Does innocence matter in our criminal justice system? Don't the DNA cases show that we are not getting the right outcome in more cases than we previously thought?
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Website
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Supreme Court

For Students 9th - 10th
Discussion overview illustrating the structure and powers of the Supreme Court as written in the U.S. Constitution.
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Website
Other

Representative Democracy Has Failed

For Students 9th - 10th
This politically oriented site outlines the degeneration of American Democracy and the erosion of democratic principles as exemplified by unconstitutional actions on the part of the Federal and State governments, as in the examples of...

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