09 Jul Discussion Post

Lecture

The Sixth Amendment is one of the most important amendments in the constitution.  It is surprising that most people do not know all of the rights which are provided by the Sixth Amendment.  At best most people know that the Sixth Amendment provides the right to an attorney.  However, it is the Sixth Amendment which provides us with the right to a jury trial, public trial, confront witnesses against us in a criminal case, compel witnesses to come and testify, and others.

The trial is one of the most important aspects in the criminal justice process.  The trial sets in motion the determination of whether a person will be found innocent or guilty of the charges against them.  Up until the trial, a person can always maintain their innocence because there has been no determination of guilt.  A question was raised what if we had the kind of trial process which was used by ancient kings and queens?  How would a system like that work today? Would it be effective and efficient?  These are all questions that come to mind when people compare our criminal justice system to past systems.

In this last discussion, develop an argument against the continued use of our current trial system.  As you develop your argument read and consider the points your classmates make in their discussion.  It will be interesting to read the points of view.  Then read the article below which addresses hearsay evidence used in trials.  Consider the impact of this type of evidence as you develop your analysis.

Assignment

Read chapter 1 specifically Pages 9 thru 18 focusing on the Three Eras of Policing and provide a summary and analysis of the Three Eras of Policing.   Your original posting must be 150 – 250 words in order to adequately establish and support your analysis. Be sure to include the citations for the articles that you read. I will not grade work that does not have citations. You should also do responses to the postings of three other learners. Each response to another learner must be at least 50 – 100 words. Citations do not count as part of the word count for original postings or responses.

Note: To get the articles, select Current Students, then Library at the CGTC home page. Under Library Resources select SAGE Criminology Journals. If you are off campus, you will then be taken to a GALILEO log in page where you should use the password for the semester. You will then be taken to the Sage data base. Paste the name of the article in the search block and access the article. This may be your first journey into the SAGE publications and perhaps your first experience with research journal articles. Remember how to access SAGEyou will be doing it many more times in this class.

Article:

Redlich, Allison, Myers, John, Goodman, Gail S. , and Qin, Jianjian (2002). A Comparison of Two Forms of Hearsay in Child Sexual Abuse Cases. Child Maltreatment 7(4), pgs. 312-328