Mrs.S. Reid-Howell

Grace Dodge High School

Web Quest: The Lack of Justice in the American Judicial System

As seen in Twelve Angry Men and Monster

Introduction

It has frequently been said that American Judicial System has not always been a fair one. Many of the city’s jails are filled with individuals who seem to be victims of the injustices within the judicial system. It is alleged that our judicial system is plagued with judges and lawyers who allow their prejudices and biases to interfere with carrying out the principles of the justice system fairly and honestly the way it was originally intended. Using the play Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose and the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers, as our foundation, we will investigate the lack of justice as it exists within the context of these works as well as examining the problem in our current day society.

You will serve as a special investigator to determine how this perceived lack of justice affects the urban communities within New York City. As part of this special investigative team you will closely examine specific court cases of your choice in which you reveal or uncover examples in which the lack of justice seems to be evident. Your investigation will shed a new light on this social problem and will offer a deeper understanding of the works of literature we’ve studied.

Task (What You Will Produce) Goal/Objective

As part of this elite investigative team, your goal is to produce specific evidence from real current day court cases. You will classify each court case according to race, gender and urban environment.

You will document and present a specific pattern that your findings reveal to you as your sift through your court cases and evidence. You will be required to produce a detailed chart (document) which must include your public policy document that aided in your initial investigation as well as a visual presentation .

The Process: (How you will produce the product)

In order for your chart / document to prove effective in reflecting the Lack of Justice you find in the specific court cases you choose, you must first understand what the lack of justice represents within the judicial system and be able to clearly identify/reveal evidence that exhibits this social problem and how it effects urban communities. .

1. Refer to the resource section and carefully read the websites provided in order to fully understand the social problem, which is the lack of justice within the judicial system.

2. Click on to the hyperlink Define the Problem in the resources section and be sure to complete the worksheet located at the bottom of the page.

3. Gather evidence that proves this social problem exist in the urban areas of New York City.

4. Identify the causes and effects of injustices within the judicial system such as high suicide rates, high poverty areas, high drop outs rates among urban youth, high unemployment rates, break down in family structures such as high divorce rates, high domestic violence rates, crime, drug abuse and high rates of depression.

5. What current policies exist today to deal with the problem

6. Develop Solutions or changes to these rules that your organization will deal with.

7. Selecting the best solution that deals with the problem of the lack of justice within the judicial system.

8. The Visual Chart must be a written/typed document that contains the evidence of your research regarding the injustices within the judicial system and a table of contents that must cover in detail each area of your research such as (defining the problem, gathering the evidence, identifying the causes, identifying current policies, developing solutions and selecting the best solution) which must serve as the foundation for your organization.

9. You must use a binder in which each area of your evidence is clearly labeled with a detailed introduction and explanation of each court case you’ve chosen to investigate.

10. In addition to the binder you must also produce a visual presentation that must be in the form of a drawing on a large poster board of the evidence you’ve obtained regarding each court case.

Resources

Court Cases – distributed in class

Racial discrimination: http://www.aaanet.org/cae/aeq/br/weisandf.htm

http://www.freechild.org/racism.htm

http://www.urbanthinktank.org/whiteboy.cfm

The effects of racism on urban youthhttp://www-mcnair.berkeley.edu/uga/osl/mcnair/94BerkeleyMcNairJournal/16_Evans.html

http://www.juyc.org/current/0302/blake.html

Evaluation: / Rubric for Evaluating Web Quests

Note: For each hyperlink you visit there will be a series of worksheets that must be completed upon which you will be granted a grade.

Your work will be evaluated according to the following rubric:

	A(100-90)	B(89-80	C(79-70)	D969-60	F(59-<)
Step 1-Intro	Background information Thesis statement and examples	Thesis statement and examples of evidence found	Thesis statement and 1 example	Thesis statement	Background information
Step 2-Evidence	Show evidence from text to prove thesis (at least 3 for each character)	Show evidence from text to prove thesis (at least 3 for each character)	Show evidence from text to prove thesis( at least 2 for each character)	Show evidence from text to prove thesis ( at least 1 for each character)	Provides evidence and thesis statement as a unit
Step 3-Causes	From research show possible causes for problem(at least 3 causes	From research show possible causes (at least 2)	From research show possible causes(at least 1)	From research show possible causes (at least 1)	Shows one possible cause of problem
Step 4-Policies which existed	Cite at least 2 policies which helped the U.S. to combat the injustices in the court system	Cite at least 2 policies which helped the U.S. to combat the injustices in the court system	Cite 1 policy which helped the U.S. to combat the injustices in the court system	Cite 1 policy, which helped the U.S. to combat the injustices in the court system	Does not Cite a policy that verifies claim
Step 5- Reform possibilities	Give at least 3 possibilities	Give 3 possibilities	Give 2 possibilities	Give 2 possibilities	N/A
Step 6- Best solution	Of the three choose the best one	Of the three choose the best one	Choose the better of the two choices	Choose the better of the two choices	Gives a recommendation
Spelling, grammar and punctuation	There should be a minimum of 5	There should be a minimum of 6	There should be a minimum of 8	There should be a minimum of 10	There should be a minimum of 11

Standards

ELA STANDARD 1

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas, discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

ElA STANDARD 2

Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

Students will read and listen to oral, written and electronically produced texts and performances, relate texts and performances to their own lives, and develop an understanding of the diverse social, historical, and cultural dimensions the texts and performances represent. As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Social Studies Standards

analyze the development of American culture, explaining how ideas, values, beliefs, and traditions have changed over time and how they unite all Americans

• describe the evolution of American democratic values and beliefs as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the New York State Constitution, the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and other important historical documents

Conclusion:

The completion of this Web Quest will have given you the knowledge and experience needed to comfortably and confidently research topics of interest for yourselves as well as required assignments for your academics.

It was my goal to educate you more about one of the important social problems that plague our current day society and to help you create a voice in your fight against racial discrimination.