CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA

5. Understand the function that people play by taking key roles in the criminal justice system, including police, prosecutors, defense lawyers,judges, jurors, court personnel, probation and parole officers, appellate justices, legislators, andspecial-interest groups.habeas corpus, presumption of innocence, fairnotice, impartial tribunal, speedy and publictrials, right to counsel, trial by jury, right againstself incrimination, protection against double jeopardy, right of appeal.6. Understand the role of legislative, executive, andjudicial public policy making and analyze andevaluate public policy options.Understands the advantages and disadvantages ofthe adversary system. . . .7. Identify and analyze our society’s crime problemin terms of its causes, effects, interventions, andstatistical and polemical bases.8. Develop greater capacity to become involved ascitizens to address problems and issues relatingto the criminal justice system at the communitylevel, including assessing opinion and conducting crime-prevention projects.Standards AddressedStandards-based education has arrived. Criminal Justice in America, with its emphasis on critical thinkingand government content, will meet many differentstandards. You will have to check your own state’sand district’s standards. Below are a few nationalstandards that the text addresses. They come from thenational standards for civics and for thinking and reasoning at the high school level.Civics Standards:Understands the sources, purposes, and functions oflaw, and the importance of the rule of law for the protection of individual rights and the common good.Specifically:Knows alternative ideas about the sources of law(e.g., custom, Supreme Being, sovereigns, legislatures) and different varieties of law (e.g., divinelaw, natural law, common law, statute law, international law)Knows alternative ideas about the purposes andfunctions of law (e.g., regulating relationshipsamong people and between people and their government; providing order, predictability, security,and established procedures for the managementof conflict; regulating social and economic relationships in civil society)Understands the importance of Americans sharingand supporting certain values, beliefs, and principlesof American constitutional democracy. Specifically:Understands the significance of fundamental values and principles for the individual and society.Understands the role and importance of law in theAmerican constitutional system and issues regardingthe judicial protection of individual rights. Specifically:Understands the importance to individuals and tosociety of major due process protections such asKnows the basic principles of the juvenile systemand the major differences between the dueprocess rights of juveniles and adults.Understands current issues regarding judicial protection of the rights of individuals.Understands the formation and implementation ofpublic policy. Specifically:Knows a public policy issue at the local, state, ornational level well enough to identify the majorgroups interested in that issue and explain theirrespective positionsUunderstands the processes by which public policy concerning a local, state, or national issue isformed and carried outKnows the points at which citizens can monitor orinfluence the process of public policy formationUnderstands why agreement may be difficult orimpossible on [some] issues . . . because of conflicts about values, principles, and interests.Thinking and Reasoning Standards:Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument. Specifically:Understands that when people try to prove apoint, they may at times select only the information that supports it and ignore the informationthat contradicts it.Identifies techniques used to slant information insubtle ways.Identifies the logic of arguments that are basedon quantitative data.Identifies or seeks out the critical assumptions behind a line of reasoning and uses that to judge thevalidity of an argument.Understands that to be convincing, an argumentmust have both true statements and valid connections among them.Uses tables, charts, and graphs in constructingarguments.Evaluates the overall effectiveness of complexarguments.Criminal Justice in America, Fifth EditionTeacher’s Guide5

Effectively uses mental processes that are based onidentifying similarities and differences (compares,contrasts, classifies). Specifically:Identifies abstract patterns of similarities and differences between information on the same topicbut from different sources.Identifies abstract relationships between seemingly unrelated items.Identifies the qualitative and quantitative traits(other than frequency and obvious importance)that can be used to order and classify items.Applies basic trouble-shooting and problem-solvingtechniques. Specifically:Engages in problem finding and framing for personal situations and situations in the community.Represents a problem accurately in terms of resources, constraints, and objectives.Provides summation of the effectiveness of problem-solving techniques.Examines different options for solving problemsof historical importance and determines why specific courses of action were taken.Evaluates the feasibility of various solutions toproblems; recommends and defends a solution.Applies decision-making techniques. Specifically:Analyzes current or pending decisions that canaffect national or international policy and identifies the consequences of each alternative.Evaluates the costs and benefits of various alternatives within a decision.Organization and ContentThe text is divided into six units. Each unit contains several chapters. The following provides a brief overview:INTRODUCTIONThe introduction overviews the content areas of criminal law, procedure, justice, and criminology. Readersare challenged to take an active role in learning aboutthe system.UNIT ONE: CRIMEChapter 1 — Crimes — A basic primer in criminallaw detailing how crimes are classified and defined,what elements constitute a crime, types of crime, anda special focus on homicide, crimes of stealing, inchoate crimes, crimes against the justice system, hatecrimes, and computer crime.Chapter 2 — Defenses — A look at defenses tocrimes, including affirmative defenses such as self-defense, insanity, and entrapment.Chapter 3 — Criminals — An examination of thosewho commit crimes, from the violent street criminal tothe con artist to the white-collar criminal. A special focusis given to how crime is measured and to youth gangs.6Criminal Justice in America, Fifth EditionTeacher’s GuideChapter 4 — Crime Victims — An exploration ofcrime victims and efforts to compensate them andgive them greater rights in the criminal justice system.UNIT TWO: THE POLICEChapter 5 — Police and Society — A look at the history of law enforcement, the structure of local policedepartments, and the day-to-day activities of police.Chapter 6 — Methods and Investigations — An exploration of the methods of policing and investigation,including community policing, suppressing gang anddrug-related violence, chain of custody, eyewitnessidentification, and the use of informants.Chapter 7 — Forensic Science — A look at the origins of forensic science, the growing use of crime labs,and issues about its validity.Chapter 8 — Police and the Law — An examinationof how constitutional doctrines and criminal procedures affect the work of the police with a special focuson the law of search and seizure, interrogations andconfessions, and the exclusionary rule.Chapter 9 — The Limits of Police Authority — Anexploration of the use of force, controversies over allegations of police brutality, racial profiling, corruption in policing, and methods for policing the police.UNIT THREE: THE CRIMINAL CASEChapter 10 — The Courts and Case Process — Anoverview of the court system, special courts, judgesand judicial independence, the role of prosecutors anddefense attorneys, the rights of criminal defendants,the criminal trial adversary process, the use of evidence to establish facts, and the steps of the criminaltrial process.Chapter 11 — Investigation and Arrest — An introduction to the law of arrest and to the hypotheticalcase upon which the unit is based.Chapter 12 — Pretrial — A step-by-step immersioninto pretrial processes and issues, including the role ofthe defense attorney, the first judicial appearance,bail, prosecutorial review, plea bargaining, probablecause and arraignment hearings, and pretrial motions.Chapter 13 — Trial — An in-depth coverage of keysteps of the criminal trial, including the courtroom setting, jury selection, opening statements, the use andrules of evidence, closing arguments, the judge’s instructions, jury deliberations, and the verdict.UNIT FOUR: CORRECTIONSChapter 14 — Sentencing — An exploration of therationales and theories of punishment,

criminal case process; the philosophies and alterna-tive methods of corrections; the nature and processes of treating the juvenile offender; the causes of crime; and the role of government and citizens in finding solutions to America’s crime problems. 2. Develop, state, and defend positions on key issues facing the criminal justice system, including the treatment of victims, police-community .