Reference no: EM133365691
1. Find a crime reported in a newspaper, magazine, or online.
2. You can choose any crime. Try to choose something that has not received a lot of media coverage: something that interests you and that you think might prove interesting to your classmates.
3. Read about the event and illustrate a short-written summary: sufficient to let me and your classmates know what happened.
4. Note the jurisdiction (federal or state - and which state) involved, and note the specific crime that was charged.
5. Use the Cornell Law School website, or another online site to find the criminal statute that matches the charges. Remember that you can find most criminal codes in searchable form on Google (by typing, Ohio Criminal Code" for example, into the search box). Copy the relevant sections of the statute.
5. Find out what range of punishments is possible if the defendant is convicted. (This information should be included in the statute creating the crime: either directly or by reference to another section.)
6. Think about and decide whether you believe that the charges made were an appropriate fit for what happened, given the circumstances. If you think there are more appropriate charges, what are they? If you don't think any charges should have been brought, why? What do you think should have been done instead to address the situation?
7. Think about what you think should happen to the defendant and why you think so in terms of the purpose of criminal law. (You know: retribution, specific and general deterrence, incapacitation, treatment or rehabilitation, and the possibility of restoration).