Courtroom and Observation

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Lesson 4: Courts in America

Activity 4:  Courtroom and Observation Paper (100 points)

This Activity requires that you observe proceedings in a courtroom. To successfully complete this activity, you must fulfill the following criteria. Your Activity responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct, and formatted in the same fashion as the Activity itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document in a bibliography using APA style. (100 points) (A 4-page response is required.)

1.    After completing your Required Readings, contact the clerk of courts office as listed in the government section of the telephone book or on the courts website. Plan to visit a State or Federal court to observe a criminal trial or multiple trials. Be careful to ensure that you are watching a trial, and not sentencing or motion proceedings. You can most easily identify a criminal trial by the jury in the courtroom and witnesses being interrogated by a prosecutor and a defense attorney in front of the jury. It is also acceptable to watch a bench trial (where a judge rules on the facts no jury is present); be careful to ensure that you are watching an actual trial. The courts docket will be listed on the courts website, and information about a particular trial, including court filings and briefs, may be available as well. One good source of information is the courts resources for media, which may include a summary about a particular case of interest.

2.    Keep in mind that some trials can be brief lasting only 2-3 hours. Also, many juvenile proceedings remain closed to the public. Trials can be cancelled at the last minute, so take care in scheduling. You may wish to contact the clerk of the court for assistance in planning your visit.

3.    Once you have completed your observation, write a paper discussing your experience.  In your paper, you should answer the following questions:

a.    Describe the proceedings that took place and discuss any comparisons with material from the Required Readings.

b.    How did the trial differ from what you expected? If it did not differ from your expectations, explain as well. 

c.    How would you evaluate the various actors (courtroom workgroup and witnesses) involved in this trial? Be sure to include observations about the judge, the attorneys, the court staff, the defendant, and the demeanor of witnesses who testified.

d.    In your opinion, was the trial an efficient way to resolve the type of case you observed? Why or why not?

e.    What alternatives to the trial process might you suggest for the type of case you observed?

4.    Be sure to include detailed information in your bibliography about when and where you did your observation (what type of courthouse, case, charges against the defendant(s), date and location of observation, docket number, judges information, etc.).

History/Environmental Problem

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A historical narrative and explanation of an environmental problem that has affected you and/or your hometown in some way. This could be any number of things, but think specifically about something that has happened, or is happening now, in or near where you live or grew up. You will then use the course material and one outside academic source to place the problem in its regional/national/global context; discuss who is affected most by the problem; and explain what kinds of efforts have been undertaken, if any, to address the problem.

This essay must be a historical narrative and explanation of an environmental problem (ecosystem devastation, pollution or health problem, climate change concern, or something similar) that has affected you and/or your hometown in some way. Think specifically about something that has happened, or is happening now, in or near where you live or grew up. You will then use the course material and at least one outside academic source to do the following in this order:

1. Discuss the origins of the problem locally and within a national and/or global context. 

2. Discuss who has been affected most by the problem

3. Explain what kinds of efforts have been undertaken to address the problem and how effective these actions have been. Are/were the actions taken equitable? Are/were they sufficient?

The objective of this assignment is for you to deepen your comprehension of the course material up to this point and be able to bring together the material from the midterm with the most recent material on environmental ideas and environmentalisms. This essay is also a way for you to make this class more personal: we all depend on our environment in all kinds of ways. This is an opportunity for you to engage with environmental ideas and understand better how recent history makes our contemporary moment. Moreover, the essay is good preparation for your final essay.

You will be expected to use course material (lecture and/or readings) to write this essay, but you are also expected to use at least one outside academic source that has not been assigned in this course. Jstor and Academic Search Complete are good databases for questions of environmental politics. This outside source needs to deal directly with or relate to your environmental problem. It might be that your source deals with the very specific local problem you chose, or its wider regional or global context. It always helps if the source specifically addresses the problem and how people have sought to resolve or mitigate it. Look for this kind of source(s) first. However, if you do not find one because no research has been done on it, you may use another that examines the general context/causality of your problem at a regional/national/international level. If you find little directly related to your chosen environmental problem, you must choose to select another problem easier to research. You may decide to complement your academic source with additional sources such as newspaper or journalistic/media reports or interviews you conduct with family or friends. These will likely strengthen your essay, but they are not to replace the academic source.

To cite lecture, course readings, and your outside source(s) in the text, you must use parenthetical references of author and page numbers. For example, (Guha, 123-5) or (Martinez Alier, 27). You do need to provide a full bibliography at the end for all outside sources you use.

ESSAY Requirement/ Lectures slides/ Supporting readings are all here.

T5 W6 D3

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T5 W6 D3

Assignment Prompt
Respond to the following questions concerning the identified disparities to health within the Healthy People 2020:
1.    Are there tools to help identify these gaps in care?
2.    If you could develop a screening tool to address a barrier to healthcare, what would it look like?
3.    Who would administer this and what resources would you need to coordinate with to solve this problem?
4.    Is this feasible for a clinic setting? Why or why not?

Expectations
    Length: 1500 words
    Format: APA
    Research: At least two high-level scholarly reference in APA from within the last 5 years

Week 5 Community Practice Experience Journal Reflection

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  1. What are your upcoming weeks specific learning goals and objectives as a Case Manager?
  2. What is your upcoming weeks detailed schedule at your community practice experience placement?
  3. Were there any placement items/issues that occurred this week that you feel your instructor should be aware of that are private in nature and are more appropriately shared here than in the discussion board with your classmates?
  4. Give a brief description of an objective you worked on this week. Make sure to cite at least one reference showing how your objective relates to the public health knowledge youve studied during this course or the public health course. You may choose to reference your e-text, journal articles, or videos you’ve studied during these courses or you may find an outside reference on your own to further enhance your public health knowledge and practices.

Remember, your journal entries are an important aspect of clinical learning as they serve to help you reflect upon and get the most out of your community practice experience. Therefore, your journal entry should include the who, what, where, and when of your community practice experience. Remember, this should simulate a dialogue that would normally take place face-to-face with your community practice experience instructor.