American Documentary
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Plea Bargains
The outcome of 90 percent of criminal cases in the US is determined by plea bargains. Clips from the documentary Better This World create the backdrop for an investigation of the benefits and drawbacks of the plea bargaining process....
Curated OER
Theories of Crime and Punishment
Students examine goals of two major theories of punishment, Utilitarian Theory and Retributive Theory, develop opinions about ethics and effectiveness of both theories, define legal duties of prosecutors and public defenders, and discuss...
Curated OER
Juvenile Justice-Adjudicatory Hearing
Students list the role of the prosecutor and the role of defense counsel. They state the elements of robbery and defense of compulsion. Students conduct a mock hearing, following the sequence of steps in an adjudicatory hearing and...
Curated OER
Government Lesson Plan: Lesson Plan 9
Learners examine and compare/contrast the steps of criminal and civil cases. They define key vocabulary terms, develop an outline of a criminal and civil trial, and analyze the differences in standards of proof in legal cases.
National First Ladies' Library
Fire! The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Trial and It's Aftermath
Middle schoolers research, examine and are provided the opportunity to re-enact one of the most exciting trials of the 20th century, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Trial. They research the history of the trial and then divide into...
Curated OER
Judges in the Classroom Lesson Plan Juvenile Justice- Adjudicatory Hearing
Students conduct a mock hearing simulating the role of attorneys and witnesses familiarizing them with the juvenile court process.
Curated OER
Juvenile Justice - Adjudicatory Hearing
Students conduct a mock hearing in which they clearly define the role of prosecutor and defense council, while also determining the elements of robbery and defense of duress.
Curated OER
The Trial Process
Students learn about parties, defendant, plaintiff, prosecutor, case, evidence, testimony, witness, documents, physical evidence, etc. in the Trial Process.
Curated OER
Criminal Law: Rape
Students explore the different degrees and types of rape as defined in the state of Washington. They role-play as prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, with one of each in different groups. The attorneys present their cases and the...
Curated OER
Dr. Fix-It Subjects: Health, Government
Help your students undertand the critical problems around healthcare. By focusing on the political and private process of healthcare, students will watch a video, analyze issues, and write an essay on their findings. Additionally, they...
Anti-Defamation League
Exploring Solutions to Address Radical Disparity Concerns
The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, and the protests that followed the 2014 shootings, are the focus of a current-events activity that asks class members to brainstorm and research possible strategies to address the...
Curated OER
Excessive Nominalizations
Eliminate unnecessary nominalizations from your middle schoolers' writing! After reviewing a reference page for the -tion ending (and when it can be excessive in writing), students rewrite eight sentences to change nominalizations to a...
School Improvement in Maryland
Court Proceedings Civil Cases
What's the difference between civil and criminal law? How do the court proceedings differ in these two types of trials? How do the standards of proof differ? Why do these differences exist? As part of their examination of the US court...
Judicial Learning Center
Your Day in Court
Whether out of choice or necessity, people want to know what will happen on a typical day in court. A helpful lesson walks scholars in the field of criminology through the trial process from opening statements to the final verdict.
Curated OER
The Trial of the Bloody Sucker
A blood sucking what? Grade schoolers identify the characteristics of blood sucking parasites. They organize their information, identify their arguments, and present them to the class in persuasive arguments. They participate in a debate...
Curated OER
Lessons from the Holocaust
In an ultimate instructional activity about listening to opposing points of view, your young historians read testimony from the Nuremberg Trials by Nazi SS officers regarding their actions during the Holocaust and a brief speech by...
Curated OER
Antonyms 5
Here's a list of vocabulary words that will trick even your smartest vocabulary scholars! They have to identify the antonym for each of 10 words listed. Examples include fragrant, sterile, celerity, and apocryphal.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Saved from the Gallows — the Trial of Leopold and Loeb
Was justice served for Bobby Franks? An informative article about the 1924 trial of Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold includes an overview of the murder of Bobby Franks, the defense’s legal strategy, and excerpts of closing arguments from...
Judicial Learning Center
The Players in the Courtroom
Courtrooms are complicated. In addition to the many rules, there are a number of people whose jobs are not very clear to the casual courtroom observer. With the resource, individuals identify some of these roles and review more...
Curated OER
Pronoun Agreement
Your scholars check 20 sentences singular/plural pronoun agreement. Example: "If everyone used turn signals, they would find that their daily commute..." Three pronouns in each sentence are underlined and labeled A, B, or C. If any of...
Curated OER
Misplaced and Dangling Participles, Worksheet 2
Are your young grammarians misplacing or dangling their participles? The 17 sentences on this worksheet provide participants practice with pesky participles.
Curated OER
The Case of the Plugged Toilets:
Students identify the process for settling a criminal dispute (how are the facts of the case presented; how is the dispute resolved?, and
Curated OER
Rights-Minded
Students expand their knowledge and understanding about the civil rights movement by investigating the lives of some of the people who contributed to it.
Curated OER
United States v. Nixon (1974)
Young scholars examine checks and balances. In this Supreme Court lesson, students examine primary documents from United States v. Nixon and discuss the implications of the decision.