Assignment:
Justice in a Changing Society
Imagine that you were a citizen of another country invited to tour your local courthouse. Would that tour reveal an accurate reflection of all the citizens in your community? Perhaps one aspect of your community would be overrepresented, while another would barely be represented. Or perhaps one group in your community would seem to be in nearly all positions of authority, while another would seem to be the majority of individuals under scrutiny.
If this sounds more familiar than not, you may be responding to how the judicial system responds to changing-and changing views of-its citizens. This week, you examine issues of diversity, representation, and societal expectations in relation to the meaning of justice.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Analyze the concept of justice being blind
- Analyze the expectations for a jury of peers
- Develop due process, roles, and characteristics of a newly conceived judicial system
- Apply cultural awareness to foundational concepts of a newly conceived judicial system
- Analyze the application of culturally aware process creation to social change efforts
Discussion: The Meaning of Fairness
Justice is blind. You have the right to be judged by a jury of your peers.
Have you ever paused to reflect on these two phrases that are so common that they may be clichés? Having thought of them from your own perspective, have you ever considered how their meanings may differ from another's perspective? In this Discussion, you think more deeply about these two common phrases.
Post a response to one of the following prompts:
Is justice blind?
OR
What does it mean to be judged by a jury of your peers?