Criminal Justice Reform

In this multi-week unit, students dissect the American criminal justice system by creating their own laws and applying them to real criminal cases. Optionally paired with the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers, the unit begins with students running a mock trial for Batman using a flowchart to demonstrate the steps most criminal suspects encounter. Students then team up to design their own criminal justice systems by establishing laws on twelve topics ranging from drug policy and mandatory minimums to police body cameras and juvenile detention. Using Twine, an online tool for interactive storytelling, teams walk through seven real-world cases. The outcome of each case is determined by that team’s previously established laws and by real-time decisions made on behalf of various stakeholders.

Topics addressed:
The American criminal justice system - laws, policies, politics, history and examples of real criminal cases
Primary CT concepts: decomposition and algorithmic thinking. Students approach a massive social justice topic one policy and one case at a time, slowly developing their knowledge and coming to understand the broader implications. Also, students learn the key steps criminals encounter as they are processed through the criminal justice system and how changes to that process lead to new outcomes.

Students will be able to:
Evaluate criminal justice policies and implement changes to existing laws
Apply their modified criminal justice policies to real-world criminal cases
Understand the elements of the criminal justice process common to all cases

Materials:
Criminal justice flowchart (printed large or projected)
Criminal Justice Reform web app
Lined paper or a Google Doc assignment where students can record written responses to questions posed throughout each real-world criminal case
Copies of Monster by Walter Dean Myers, if students will be reading it during this unit

Prep:
Print the criminal justice flowchart as large as you can, or decide that you will project it for your students
Create team codes in the Criminal Justice Reform web app. Each team of 2-4 students will need their own team code.

Suggested unit breakdown:
Due to TES length limitations, please find day-by-day instructions here.