Court Vocab and Cases

Bailiff - keeps things running smoothly in the judge's chambers and the courtroom
Civil Attorney for Defendant - presents evidence to convince the jury my client didn't violate the other side's rights
Civil Attorney for Plaintiff - presents evidence to convince the jury that the defendant violated my client's rights
Civil Defendant -  help my lawyer to prove I didn't break the law or violate rights
Court Clerk - uses a computer to take official notes about what happens
Court Reporter - transcribes what everyone says word for word
Criminal Defendant - sits with lawyer and hopes the jury will decide I didn't commit a crime
Criminal Defense Attorney - presents evidence to convincethe jury my client didn't commit a crime
Judge - makes sure that the lawyers follow cortroom rules and that the jury knows what to di
Judicial Assistant -makes sure that the lawyers have everything they need
Juror - listens carefully to evidence to decide the verdict
Plaintiff - sit with lawyer and hope that the judge decides that my rights were violated
Prosecutor -  presents evidence to convince the jury that the defendant committed a crime.
Victim - not involved witht the trial because the state pressed charges for them.
Witress- testify in court to what they saw

Court Cases:
Texas v Johnson - symbolic speech
New Jersey v TLO - 4th amwendment violation
USA v Nixon - protected presidential speech
Korematsu v USA -restricted freedoms after WWII
Engle v Vitale - 1st amendment religion

Extra Credit: Creating a Poll

You have been tasked by the student leadership group to gain an insight into student interests and concerns.  Choose a topic that you think interests or concerns the high school students, and then craft a poll that will tally those opinions. 

Be sure to include:

Your Universe:  who are you trying to get the opinions of?

Your sample size:  How many students did you poll?

The Demographics you collected:  do you care about age?  Gender?  Grade? 

The Questions:  What questions are you asking?  How many?  Are they neutral and not leading?

The Results:  What did you polling show? 

Include the poll itself ( a blank template) and your responses along with the answers to these questions.

Good luck, and happy polling!

Election Extra Credit

Interview 5 people.  Ask them the following questions:

1.        How old were you when you registered to vote?

2.       Why did you register to vote?

3.       Do you vote in both local and national elections?  (if only one, why)

4.       Why do you vote?

5.       Do you feel like your vote makes a difference?

Write up all of your answers.

Include a summary paragraph that includes the following information:

 Based on your interviews, do you think that most people feel like voting is important?  Are you going to vote in the next election?  What do you think would happen if more people voted?

Can be typed or handwritten.