Assignment task:
1. What is punishment and what is supposed to be achieved by its practice?
2. Why do you think we punish?
3. What do you think is the rationale for using punishment in a democracy?
4. What do you think punishment offers to different stakeholders (victims, offenders, community), if anything, that nothing else does?
5. Write a letter to the editor of the paper
Choose a recent local crime/punishment news story this week. Determine different possible positions on the story, and then unpack these to consider possible common interests underlying these positions.