Summary

CURRENT EVENT TOPIC LIST

Crime:

 Gangs, crime in schools, and youth violence in general.

 Different kinds of crime—property crime, violent crime, and other types.

 Various defenses to crime, particularly insanity, self-defense, and entrapment.

 Crime statistics (local, national, etc)

 Unsolved crimes/cold cases Law Enforcement:

 What police do and the problems they face.

 Community policing.

 Advanced technology in investigating crime (e.g., DNA profiles).

 Rules that police must follow in conducting searches, seizing evidence, making arrests, and questioning suspects.

 Cases of police brutality, corruption, or other misconduct and how to police this misconduct.

Courts and Sentencing:

 The courtroom participants: prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, witnesses, jurors.

 The rights of criminal defendants.

 All stages of a criminal case: arrest, first appearance before a judge, bail, preliminary hearing or indictment, arraignment, pretrial motions, trial, sentencing, post-trial motions,

and sentencing.

 Prosecutorial discretion in determining charges in particular cases.

 Plea bargaining.

 Various pretrial motions (e.g., to suppress evidence, change venue, and issue gag orders).

 Procedural steps in a criminal trial, including jury selection, opening statements, presentation of evidence, closing arguments, jury instructions, and jury deliberations.

 Wrongful convictions Corrections:

 The purpose of punishing criminals.

 Three-strike and mandatory-sentencing laws.

 The number of persons in prison.

 Fixed and indeterminate sentencing and sentencing guidelines.

 Alternatives to prison such as probation, house arrest, community service, halfway houses, and others.

 Prison conditions, private prisons, and prison revolts.

 Super-maximum-security prisons.

 Parole.

 Death penalty.

Or any other criminal justice topic you’d like!