Teens on Trial by: Thomas A. Jacobs, J.D. Post #1

I chose the book, "Teens on Trial," because it has direct relation to what our class is about, and it also has direct relation to me. The book goes over important cases that have gone to the supreme court that involved teenagers, then gives other examples surrounding the issue so that the reader may better understand it. The book covers issues that we have gone over in class such as the death penalty, Privacy in school, drug testing in school and more. The book also covers issues we haven't gone over such as sexual harassment, be hospitalized, and permanent records. I decided to use this book for my semester project because it directly relates to our class, and it would give me more understanding of what we are learning and i would be able to better understand what rights i have in and out of school.

Abortion

Between the NARAL-Prochoice America and National Right to Life websites, I think that i can't really say that one website is better than the other because they are different from each other. Obviously one is for Pro choice and the other Pro life. I think both are very convincing. National Right to Life gives "Quick Facts" on their site that can be very compelling for some. NARAL's website is very well designed and it says that they are pro choice, but they want to help stop more abortions by teaching people about birth control and giving sex education. They also say that, "We will always have to fight to keep abortion safe and legal. This means defeating attacks in Congress and in the states." Both websites impact my thoughts, but in the end i will always go straight to what i believe and that is pro choice.
As a 17 year old boy i strongly believe in a persons own decision. As far as parents go?... its a tough stop. I think it would be good for the parents to know, but its not a necessity. But i do believe that whether they know or not, the woman should be able to make her own decision on whether or not she keeps the child. I believe that because its their body and they have a right to do what they wish with their body.
Its also tough to say where the man stands because he is the other half and it is his child, but i think a child would change a womans life more so than a mans. Also, the father of the child is not always known due to rape or other reasons. Because of this, i think that there shouldn't be a need for concent from the male.
From looking at past bills on abortion, it seems that Illinois would be labeled as prolife. The website though, worked to show that the bills were unfair to woman and their health which is why the bills didn't pass. Its hard for me to argue the laws on abortions because I don't know the technicallities of the birth process but i believe that its not ok if the process of an adortion being legal is cut to the point where its very difficult to get one.

Final Death Penalty Post

I believe that the death penalty being abolished in Illinois is extremely just and right. I think that if a group of students at Northwestern University can find 17 men innocent/had a faulty trial, there is something wrong with the system that determines the life or death of a man. Some men were given unfair trials, such as black men who were put up against an all white jury.  Also, some men were given attorneys who had shortly later been banned from practicing law. Gov. Ryan gave a story that i thought was very important, that was about Claude Lee. Ryan explained how this man was clearly innocent of his crime of killing a police officer, but he was seriously ill. Lee has a history of mental illness treatment for many years and I don't think that this can be pushed aside. Gov. Ryan said something that made me believe that this was a hard decision for him and he had to toss and turn over every idea:
"But I had to ask myself - could I send another man's son to death under the deeply flawed system of capital punishment we have in Illinois? A troubled young man, with a history of mental illness? Could I rely on the system of justice we have in Illinois not to make another horrible mistake? Could I rely on a fair sentencing?"
From the facts on past cases that included the death penalty, I don't think we can necessarily rely on the justice system. I think a man/woman who has a serious illness shouldn't be put to death, they deserve help that could be provided by the courts.
We have learned through this unit that there can be many different kinds of miss trials. There can be racism, shortened appeals/trails, faulty attorneys given to the defendant, evidence from inmate to get less time, and faulty evidence. Many of these cases were found in the trials that were looked over by Northwestern and they were found in the court cases looked over in our class room. I don't think Gov. Ryan stopped the death penalty because he didn't like it, he did it because the system was so wrong that it had to be stopped and then fixed.
"But for decades, the debate over capital punishment rarely strayed from whether it was right or wrong, a moral argument that was waged mostly by a narrow group of attorneys and abolition supporters that could be easily dismissed. Public opinion polls showed little movement. Death sentences and executions hit record levels. Inmates like the serial killer John Wayne Gacy, whose guilt was never in question, were put to death and caused little controversy. But when a miscarriage of justice was discovered and a death row inmate was set free, the police and prosecutors contended that it was an isolated incident, an anomaly. They got little argument."
The 4th Amendment gives Americans the right to have a FAIR trial in front of a jury. It was found that many men weren't given a fair trial and whether they were guilty or not, it did not matter because we should all have the same treatments, rights, and opportunities. Gov. Ryan didn't end capitol punishment because he was against it, but because it was unjust in the process that the men had to go through to end up on death row. Because of the mistrials, many innocent men were on death row for 10+ years and many opportunities in America were gone because they were waiting to die. Many people wonder if the death penalty is 'cruel and unusual' but i think the bigger question is if its just. It was found that nearly half of 300 men who were on death row shouldn't have been there... That is unjust.

Death Penalty # 2: Law & Politics

The 8th amendment in my eyes comes down to an opinion of whether one thinks the action is, "Cruel or unusual." Some people think that lethal injection is a very smooth and easy death, but some think it is wrong and not right. I believe that lethal injection is not cruel or unusual, but I don't think it is necessarily right. When I think of the death penalty, I tend to think first if the crime suits the punishment. If it suits the crime, then it is not cruel and unusual. If the crime does not suit the punishment, then it is cruel and unusual. I believe that the death penalty should only come into play for some second offence murders and all third offence.
I think that the death penalty is so widely supported because it has been used for hundreds, even thousands of years. The system doesn't fail and for some people it brings justice to what they think is so wrong that someone should be killed. I think the media has a role in this because the media tends to twist and shape the news to make it look worse. Because of this, people who watch the news can be turned against a person because of a report on T.V. I think it is forgotten that the media is bias and that they have their own opinion too. The public is sucked into the medias version on a black hole to where the media shapes the oipinion of their viewers. This could be used in a good or bad way, for example: the media can show positive or negative press on a politician to get their viewers to either like them or dislike them. Or, they can shape a crime scene so that it looks like the police fail to do their job and it puts fear into the publics eyes and it puts pressure on the state government. Or, finally, they can shape the public to think that the death penalty is bad or good. We are all sucked in because when we watch this on T.V, we think its just the news.

Death Penalty

I think that the process of a serious crime is unfair to those who have committed past crimes. Police have to rely on pictures of past offenders or criminals which only targets those who obviously had previously committed a crime. But what about the other people?! Im aware that its hard to get the pictures of people who have not committed a crime, but this means that if the police don't know who committed a crime there is a good chance that they could arrest a man who had committed a previous crime and they charge him for a new one based on the fact that he might live near the scene of the crime. The police should only be able to arrest someone with evidence, not probable cause.
Aside from that, i think that the court system designed the method for serious crimes and/or death penatly cases in a specific way so that it would be difficult for an innocent man to be put on death row. I think this because he is put in course with a jury of his peers, where he must be proven guilty by evidence. If in fact he is proven guilty, there is a period where he can appeal evidence or misconduct in the court house which would make all evidence used invalid. This way if the prosecuter has a good lawyer, he should be able to get out of the suit with not guilty if he truly is not guilty.
I believe that lethal injection and possibly a firing squad is the most humane because it puts the person to sleep right away. Electricution, gas, and hangings are slow and painful therefore it would make it "cruel and unusual" I think that the firing squad is ok because if you shoot someone in the right place they can and will die immediately, even though it would be a little scarry. Finally, i think lethal injection is perfectly ok because within seconds it puts the person to sleep without harm.
I quickly noticed from the charts that the states with the most executions on death row, do not have the highest murder rate in the united states. This makes me believe that some states are more in favor of using the death penalty than others which is very true. This makes it hard to decide which cases are worth of moving to decision of death row simply because each states views each case at different extremities. California, Florida, and Texas have the most people and executions on death row, but their murder rate is only in the 5 percentile when others are higher but with significantly less executions.'
The document for the capital murder in Illinois states that basically you can be put on death row if you kill a worker of peace (fireman or police officer), or if you commit multiple crimes which would make you second offence murderer, or if the murder was cruel and unusual to a normal person, or if the murder was commited against a child, someone who could not defend for themselve, or a disabled person. I believe this is fair because it is justifiable and reasonable. These would be easy to dispute in a case and it puts the "one time killers" aside from the repeated offenders.
The charts say that 75% of people executed were white, which i believe is because of hate crimes of white people against other races and ethnicities. The difference between usage of lethal injection and other uses of is significant by almost 1000 uses. I think this is because most states find the other ways cruel and unusual. In the video we just watched, it even said that some states think that lethal injection is cruel and unusual because the death process can take a long time. Here i think is a stat that could end the usage of the death penalty,
"Taxpayers have paid more than $250 million for each of the state’s executions. (L.A. Times, March 6, 2005)"

Teens on Trial

The book i have chosen for my semester project is called, Teens on Trial by Thomes A. Jacobs, J.D. I chose this book because it is written full of court cases which is what we have been studying all year. I hope that, from the court cases in the book, i can go more in depth about laws we have debated in class such as drug testing. I was drawn to this book because its not written like a usual book. the book is cut up between different court cases and it shows the reader how the court system works, and the reader can learn about the laws that are being "put to the test." I think this could be a good idea to grow off of and i hope that the end result is unoriginal yet above expectations.

"Aspire and work hard to achieve your aspirations. Appreciate that, in our open society, no doors are closed to people willing to spend the hours of effort needed to make dreams come true." Ruth Bader Ginsburg

No Privacy?

"In any event, students who participate om competitive extracurricular activities voluntarily subject themselves to many of the same intrusions on their privacy as do athletes." This to me felt like one of the most ridiculous things I've hear. When i try out for a sport at DHS, i have never signed a sheet that says i agree to having less privacy than normal... I feel like changing in front of someone is not an invasion of privacy, but when you have to do an act like urinating in front of an adult of whom you don't know it is very uncomfortable and nerve-racking. Or in another example, when you join Mathletes you don't have to change in front of any other teammates, so why should they have less privacy? I simply just feel that this statement is absurd. Why should a student be punished because he/she wants to represent their town in a positive manner. Also, i believe that even though the school says that the test results will not be publicized, the information will get out in other ways. Its very easy to tell when a student is suspended from an event and it raises questions. Even though the school does not release the information, it could still get out which the student could feel as a major invasion of privacy and could cause major issues. Finally, from reading the court case it seems that the school does not give valid information that the school has a serious drug problem. Finding one joint on school grounds does not mean that over half of the school smokes marijuana. Our deans could give more evidence that our school has a worse drug problem! But then again I don't know the definition of a "drug problem."