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Article of the Week #6

The Central Park Jogger; An Old Case in a Different New York/

U.S. Judge Approves $41 Million Settlement of “Central Park Jogger” Suit

U.S. judge approves $41 million settlement of 'Central Park Jogger' suit

Student ____________________________ # ______ Block __________________

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES using the CLOSE reading strategies practiced in class. This requires reading of the article three times.

Step 1: Number the paragraphs. Skim the article using these colors and symbols as you read:

BOX -UNKNOWN WORDS/DEFINITIONS | PENCIL- questions/insights/impressions

(*) important, (!) surprising, (?) wondering, [(+) agree, (-) disagree]

Step 2: Define the vocabulary that has been boxed for you. Choose an appropriate synonym that has the same part of speech as the term. Write the synonym above each boxed term to help you better understand the excerpt.

Step 3: Read the article carefully, highlight text, and make associated notes in the margin. Notes should include:

o BLUE -strong connotation/denotation (diction/word choice)

o YELLOW-big ideas (write a summary statement of important ideas for each major section)

o PENCIL- questions/insights/impressions

o GREEN- elements of argumentation (claims/assertions, evidence/grounds)

o PURPLE - literary devices, tropes

o PINK- methods of development/organization

Step 3: A final quick read noting anything you may have missed during the first two reads.

Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment. Answer the questions carefully in complete sentences unless otherwise instructed.

Notes on my thoughts, reactions and questions as I read:

The Nation: The Central Park Jogger; An Old Case in a Different New York

By SAM ROBERTS

Published: October 20, 2002

THIRTEEN years ago, a 28-year-old Manhattan investment banker jogging in Central Park was raped, beaten and left for dead. The brutality, randomness and site of the attack became emblematic not only of a city spun out of control but of intractable racial polarization.

As Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey observed at the time, many white Americans seemed to be saying of young black males: ''You rob a store, rape a jogger, shoot a tourist, and when they catch you, if they catch you . . . you cry racism. And nobody, white or black, says stop.''

Now, New York seems like a different city.

In the 1989 jogger case, the victim was white. Six black or Hispanic teenagers were charged. Five confessed, then recanted. Even though DNA evidence pointed to someone else, four of the five were convicted of rape, the fifth of sexual assault. They served from 9 to 13 years.

Then, earlier this year, Matias Reyes, a former delicatessen clerk now imprisoned for a separate rape and murder committed that same year, said he alone had raped the jogger as well as another woman in Central Park two nights earlier. DNA tests support his claim. The evidence now available suggests the five youths would have been found not guilty of rape. Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, appears poised to join a defense motion to set aside the convictions.

Exactly what happened on April 19, 1989, may never be known. The teenagers weren't on a nature walk, that's for sure. The night's rampage of robbery and beatings -- wilding, it was called -- entered the lexicon of urban crime and stunned New Yorkers because, while the behavior of the suspects fit the stereotype of feral youth, their backgrounds did not.

Nonetheless, the brutalization of the victim demonized the suspects and seemed to make any presumption of innocence impossible. Donald J. Trump bought full-page newspaper advertisements demanding the death penalty and rejecting assertions (from Cardinal John J. O'Connor, among others) that society shared the blame for conditions that breed crime.

''I want to hate these muggers and murderers,'' Mr. Trump wrote. ''They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.'' (What if the jogger had died and the five young men had been executed, Mr. Trump was asked the other day. ''If they were convicted and weren't guilty the government would've made a tragic mistake,'' he said.)

''The presumption of innocence was lost in the rush to judgment,'' the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III of the Abyssinian Baptist Church said at the time. ''People are not saying they forgive the crime. They're not saying they don't have compassion for that woman. All they're saying is, there is a considerable amount, an overwhelming amount, of reasonable doubt.''

''Yes, there was a lot of pressure outside because there was such a large public outcry,'' Linda A. Fairstein, the former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor, said. But, she added, ''I don't think there was any rush to judgment.''

Could a similar crime occur again? Of course. Could a wolf pack of wilding teenagers be rounded up near the scene of the crime and be pressured into confessing? Probably, although advances in DNA testing make some mistakes less likely. For the time being, something else has changed, too.

''There is no racial tension,'' said Edward I. Koch, who was defeated for reelection as mayor in 1989 after yet another sensational crime, the murder of a black man by a white gang in Brooklyn, helped propel David N. Dinkins into the mayoralty. Mr. Dinkins, the city's first black mayor, soon suffered the mirror-image of his predecessor's fate: a succession of outrageous, racially charged crimes left many voters convinced that Mr. Dinkins couldn't control frightened and angry blacks, just as they had previously concluded that Mr. Koch couldn't control frightened and angry whites.

TODAY, more of the city's population is black, Hispanic and Asian. There is less reported crime, thanks initially to Mr. Dinkins and even more so to his successor, Rudolph W. Giuliani. There are fewer polarizing figures (Mr. Giuliani, for one, is gone; Mr. Morgenthau and the police commissioner,

Raymond W. Kelly, are widely respected). After cases of questionable shootings by the police and the brutalization of Abner Louima, a black man, by white police officers, the criminal justice and political systems responded vigorously to protests by blacks and whites together. Race is no longer reflexively injected into every issue, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's recent selection of a schools chancellor, who happens to be white.

''We felt so marginalized,'' the Rev. Al Sharpton said last week. ''We felt all we had was our outrage. Now the feelings are the same but the expression is different. We have proven that we can take the system on and win.''

For how long? Mr. Dinkins suggested that might depend on whether the men in the jogger case are formally exonerated. ''If that does not happen,'' he said, ''I suspect you will see some expressions that are less reserved.''

Public restraint may depend on something else, too. With budget gaps looming again, the competition for resources threatens to revive racial divisions. Still, Mr. Dinkins did not hesitate when asked what's different from 1989.

''Everything,'' he said.

Notes on my thoughts, reactions and questions as I read:

U.S. judge approves $41 million settlement of 'Central Park Jogger' suit

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK Fri Sep 5, 2014 4:33pm EDT

(Reuters) - A federal judge has approved a $41 million settlement between New York City and five men wrongfully convicted of the 1989 rape of a woman jogger in Central Park, ending a decade-long civil rights lawsuit stemming from the infamous crime.

The settlement’s details had been previously reported but were publicly disclosed for the first time on Friday, when U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis in New York signed off on the deal.

The brutal attack, known as the "Central Park Jogger" case, drew national headlines and was cited as evidence that the city's crime rate had spiraled out of control.

The five men, all black or Hispanic teenagers at the time, were arrested soon after the assault on 28-year-old Trisha Meili, a white investment banker. The men confessed following lengthy interrogations but later recanted, claiming their admissions were the result of exhaustion and police coercion.

The men were eventually exonerated after Matias Reyes, a serial rapist and murderer, confessed in 2002; DNA testing would tie him to the scene. By then, however, all five had served prison terms.

Korey Wise, who at 16 was the oldest at the time of the attack, served 13 years and will receive $12.25 million. The other four - Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam - will be paid $7.125 million each, or roughly $1 million for each year of imprisonment.

The settlement appears to be the largest in a wrongful conviction case in the city's history and is in line with some of the biggest recent jury verdicts in such cases, suggesting the city did not receive a significant discount by settling.

But a deal seemed a foregone conclusion after Mayor Bill de Blasio was elected last year, following a campaign in which he vowed to end the litigation.

His predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, had fiercely fought the lawsuit.

"This settlement is an act of justice for those five men that is long overdue," de Blasio said in a statement on Friday.

The city did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. The city's top lawyer, Zachary Carter, said in a statement that a review of the record suggested the detectives and prosecutors who handled the original investigation "acted reasonably, given the circumstances."

In an email, Wise's lawyer, Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, said her client hoped to work with charities that help former inmates.

"I am grateful that Korey has come to the end of this very long road," she said.

The agreement is one of several major civil rights settlements under de Blasio, indicating he may take a less combative approach to such cases than Bloomberg did.

In February, the administration agreed to pay Brooklyn man David Ranta $6.4 million for his wrongful conviction for murdering a rabbi in 1990; Jabbar Collins, a Brooklyn man erroneously convicted in the 1994 killing of another rabbi, will get $10 million under a deal reached last month.

In July, the city agreed to pay $2.75 million to settle claims that a Rikers Island jail inmate died in 2012 after guards beat him.

Notes on my thoughts, reactions and questions as I read:

Comprehension questions – answers may be in phrases.

1. Look at the dates in the article. When did the rape take place? How many years ago?

2. What are the facts of the original case? (Accused, involved, sentences, etc)

3. Who confessed to the rape?

4. What is public outcry?

9/10 RL.1

9/10.RL.1,2,4,10

2. Answer each question in one or more complete sentences.

1. As Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey observed at the time, many white Americans seemed to be saying of young black males: ''You rob a store, rape a jogger, shoot a tourist, and when they catch you, if they catch you . . . you cry racism. And nobody, white or black, says stop.'' Explain what the senator means.

2. Describe Donald Trump’s involvement with this case (initially and later)

3. Make connections between the events of this case and the events of the novel.

9/10.RL.2/4 & 7/8.L.4

Create a bibliographic entry/MLA citation of this article (use your reference book for help). Don’t forget the HANGING INDENT!

What do you think is the theme of this article? Create a thematic statement from your list of abstract thematic ideas (in your reference handbook).

Based on the thematic statement you created, explain how the author supports this idea or theme throughout the article. Be sure to state the theme. Cite directly from the text.

9/10RL 1,2,4,10

What do you believe the author’s intent/argument was with the first article? Explain your reasoning; cite evidence from the text to back up your answer. TAG/ICE

9/10 RL.8,10

Make any connection to “The Crucible.” Consider all similarities. Discuss. Be specific and detailed in your answer. Use textual evidence to support your opinion. TAG/ICE

9/10.RL.2,5,10

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