Mr. Harper's Class - Home
STATION 5: SOLITARY CONFINEMENTThe United States Constitution protects against cruel and unusual punishment, in the Eighth Amendment. In the United States, there are nearly 100,000 people currently in some sort of solitary confinement inside prisons. This number of people is equal to the entire number of prisoners other countries have. Prisons and courts say that solitary confinement is there as a form of punishment for prisoners who cannot function in the normal prison environment. It is often also used to keep mentally ill prisoners “safe” from other prisoners and from themselves. Thousands of mentally ill incarcerated prisoners are sitting in solitary confinement, even though psychologists say that these conditions - 23 hours of confinement per day, and no human contact – actually drive sane people crazy. Prompt: Do you think that solitary confinement should be considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment?STATION 2: CASH BAILThe Constitution’s Eighth Amendment protects against excessive bail. Jails are where people accused of crimes wait for their trial. In jails across America, nearly 70% of people are locked up behind bars for one reason: They can’t afford to pay their bail. This has contributed to a huge rise in the number of people behind bars, even though crime itself has not increased. The presence of cash bail hurts poor people far more than middle class and wealthy people, who can usually afford to post bail. And bail amounts, on average, are much higher for African-Americans than white people. On the other side, people argue that cash bail is a way to keep potentially dangerous criminals off the streets. Prompt: Do you think that bail for crimes should be eliminated altogether? If not, what should be considered “excessive bail” under the eighth amendment? STATION 3: PUBLIC DEFENDERSThe United States guarantees all criminal defendants a public defender, or an attorney who will take their case if they cannot afford a private lawyer. It’s in the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. However, these public defenders are overworked and underpaid. Many public defenders handle hundreds of cases at one time, and earn less than public school teachers for their efforts. This often results in poor defense for their clients, and many clients choose not even to go to trial (another Constitutional guarantee) and take a plea bargain instead. Prompt: Do you think the United States should do more to provide better pay and a reasonable workload for public defenders?STATION 4: PLEA BARGAINSAmericans’ right to a fair trial is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. But in the U.S., 97% of federal felony cases and 94% of state felony cases never go to trial. Instead, they are plea bargained in the pretrial stage. These plea bargains are when the accused admits to committing the crime in exchange for a more lenient punishment. (Someone could be facing 10 years if convicted at trial, but admits to the crime and only receives four years.) Some people say plea bargains save the criminal justice system money, by avoiding costly trials when someone is clearly guilty. But as of 2017, police make nearly 11 million arrests a year, and we know there are many crimes, like drug possession or even violent crimes, which are not always clear cut. Prompt: Do you think our criminal justice system’s reliance on plea bargains violates the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution? Should everyone who is accused of a crime have access to a fair trial? Even those who confess? Even police?STATION 1: OVER-POLICING AND POLICE TACTICS INCLUDEPICTURE "" \* MERGEFORMATINET One of our foundational First Amendment freedoms is the right to “peaceably assemble,” aka to non-violently protest. In recent years, activists and community members across the nation have come together in places like Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland to protest the killings of unarmed black men by police. These instances, and groups like Black Lives Matter who shine light on them, have helped us all become more aware of how police operate in our society. Police are more militarized (see the photo above) than ever. Police spend 110 hours training in firearms and self-defense, and only eight hours in conflict management. Many believe that this style of policing further enforces race and class boundaries, and needs to be fundamentally changed, while others, like Donald Trump, openly call for more policing, even if it means curbing our freedom to nonviolently protest. Prompt: Should policing be fundamentally changed in this country? If so, how? If not, why should these policies remain in place? ................
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