Chapter 9
Identify other special populations of victims and what, if any, laws have been implemented on their behalf – local, state, or federal – as well as those listed in the text.
Determine victim/witness assistance programs in the state. Students can interview victims of crime known to them to determine if victims were informed of their rights and what, if any, rights and/or notifications were provided to them, and if they took advantage of the victims’ fund, and for what purposes.
While victims are provided a number of rights, notification and implementation are inconsistent, and where victims are kept informed, many victims do not take advantage of their rights, and there is no reduction in crime. Given this information and keeping in mind the resource crisis in the CJS, should victims’ rights programs and policies remain or be eliminated?
Chapter 10
Debate the supply v. demand debate of guns. Should there be an effort to limit the manufacturing of guns given the 97 million available? What is the students’ interpretation of the Second Amendment’s “right to bear arms” statement?
If bans on guns do not reduce serious crimes, what actions can be taken to improve the safety of society? contemplate accidental shootings and suicides by young people. Consideration should also be given to the rare occurrence of school/campus shootings, especially the 2010 governmental report on violence on college campuses which demonstrated a sharp increase in assaults and shootings on campuses in the past 20 years.
http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/campus-attacks.pdf
