Justice at the Local Level: Is it Effective?

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: How is justice carried out at a local level

MCF Benchmark: Using actual cases, evaluate the effectiveness of civil and criminal courts in the United States.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include:

  • Engage each other in elaborated conversations that deeply examine public policy issues and help make reasoned and informed decisions.
  • Generate possible alternative resolutions to public issues and evaluate them using criteria that have been identified.

Materials needed:

  • Computer (For PP presentation)
  • Supplementary Materials Handouts A-D
  • Classroom set of American Government Text, e.g.Magruder's.

Methodological procedure:

Day 1: (45-55 minute class period)

1. Using their personal opinion and experiences to draw from, students engage in an informal writing response to the prompt 'What is justice, and how does it relate to you?'

2. The instructor will facilitate a large group discussion of the question and lead the class to a consensus on a definition of justice.

3a. The instructor, using a power point presentation (see Notes #1 and Downloads), will provide information on the following concepts/vocabulary:

  • CIVIL VS. CRIMINAL
  • CIRCUIT COURT
  • FAMILY COURT
  • COURT OF CLAIMS
  • PROBATE COURT
  • DISTRICT COURT
  • SMALL CLAIMS COURT
  • MUNICIPAL COURT
  • THE CONCEPT OF COMPLIANCE VERSUS PUNISHMENT (Ordinance Enforcement Bureaus)

3b. Students are given a power point lecture guide to record information during the presentation (See Downloads for Handout A).

4. Students are assigned homework to reinforce information in the PP (see Downloads for Handout B).

Day 2: (45-55 minute class period)

5. Correct homework assessment from day one (Handout B) together so that students have immediate feedback.

6. Focus question for the day: How do we determine whether or not the courts are effective?

  1. In order to determine the effectiveness of the courts as they handle specific cases, the class must set the criteria for how they will measure effectiveness. Before the class collaboratively creates this criteria, the concepts of due process and the supremacy clause must be reviewed (See Notes 2-3).
  2. Explanation/discussion of due process and the supremacy clause. (See Downloads for Handout C).
  3. Class determines the criteria for effectiveness.

7. Activity: The instructor presents a local court case (See Notes #4) providing the following information:

  • facts of the case
  • time frame of the case
  • verdict and sentencing
  • appeals filed (if any)

Students are then arranged into groups and asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the criminal and civil courts in local Michigan communities. They will review the case information, decide which court would handle it, and apply the criteria to the case in order to arrive at a conclusion as to the effectiveness of the system. They must draw their conclusions based on the pre-determined criteria for effectiveness that was established by the class in step 6c.

8. Students elect a group spokesperson to share their conclusions. Each group's spokesperson shares.

9. Evaluate the criteria that the class used to determine effectiveness. Ask the students, 'After looking at this specific case, do you feel that we should change the criteria?'

10. Assign final assessment (see Downloads for Handout D and Notes #5).

Author's notes:

  1. Power point slides can be printed out and made into transparencies for the overhead if an LCD projector is unavailable.
  2. Handout C contains information for the student on due process. For a review of the supremacy clause, a government text such as Magruder's will be necessary. In the section on Federalism in the Magruder's text, there is a ladder graphic to help students better understand the supremacy clause.
  3. As a quick comprehension check, have students collaboratively generate examples of procedural and substantive due process before moving on.
  4. The instructor should choose two court cases from local current events to use in the Day 2 small group activity and final assessment. Try www.findlaw.com (See Web Sites below) if you cannot find any cases on your own.
  5. Standard 3 on the rubric for the final assessment is case dependent. If the case facts are relatively simple and it would be difficult for students to use 3 examples, change the requirement to 1 or 2 examples as applicable.

Assessment strategies:

Homework to reinforce information from Day 1: (Handout B) Students will match brief case scenarios to the courts that would handle them.

Final Assessment: Students are given information on a second case and must individually complete the steps practiced in the group activity. The final product will be a written defense of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the court as it handled the case in question. (Handout D: Student explanation sheet and rubric to score final assessment).

Enrichment suggestions:

As an extension activity, students could be asked to consider the actual verdicts in the two court cases they studied. By obtaining the court records from the cases, students could put themselves in the place of the jurors to determine how they would have voted had they been on the jury.

Available downloads:

Suggested web sites:

  • FindLaw: Michigan
    Here is a list of some possible places to find local court cases, including links to some district courts.