Rationale
Howard High School of Technology is an urban school located in Wilmington, Delaware. The demographic of my school is 54% African American, with 35.2% White and other ethnicities in the lower percentile demographically.2 As we are a vocational technical school, I teach students who are interested in pursuing a career in the legal field. I teach in the Legal Administrative Assistant Career Program. The current curriculum consists of an instructional Task List in civil and criminal law (See Appendix A). This program also maintains an articulation agreement with the local junior college. This articulation agreement affords students at the high school level the opportunity to earn three college credits for Introduction to Criminal Justice.
The Introduction to Criminal Justice course revolves around many discussions related to the entire criminal justice system, including law enforcement, courts and corrections. When I pose hypothetical questions to my students about sharing vital information to solve a crime, the students have stated they too do not care to be viewed as a snitch, even though they agree that something should be done to eliminate criminal elements in their neighborhoods. They subscribe to the unwritten principle that you do not snitch on anyone, especially when law enforcement is involved. If you see something, you keep quiet. One reason why a person would not like to be labeled as a snitch is the high probability of retaliation by negative elements in the community. Many people argue that the police hold some responsibility for this attitude because of police corruption, which forces witnesses to identify someone whom they know, but is not responsible for committing a crime just to solve the case. This suspicion may be due in part to the "us vs. them" mentality pitting urban communities against the police, and the police against the community. This dual mistrust as a perspective will be explored in this curriculum unit.
Because I am a vocational teacher, one of my responsibilities is to teach my students the expectations of the workplace, as well as the information required for the trade. The legal community expects a student who is pursuing a career in the legal field to be taught the curriculum. Specifically, this instruction includes employability skills. As a vocational instructor, I need to make sure each student has a current resume, can fill out an employment application, understands interview techniques, appropriate business attire, etc. With all this emphasis on professionalism, the issue of my students not wanting to help the police with a crime investigation has concerned me. It is my position that if my students are to eventually work in the legal field as legal assistants or paralegals, they should cultivate better legal and ethical standards. In the legal field, these students will encounter detectives and other investigative officials in civil and criminal cases. Wanting to withhold pertinent information in any jurisprudence would be, in my view, unethical. When a witness refuses to offer important information related to a crime, the wrong person could be convicted and the culprit could walk free. A witness's voice in helping to establish the truth must be heard by a judge or jury in order for there to be due process of law. If no witness comes forth, the pursuit of justice is flawed.
It was also important to me to devise a curriculum unit where students could objectively learn more about the techniques and challenges of solving crime when there is an uncooperative witness. It is important for the students to totally understand the ethical and practical stakes of doing the right thing if ever faced with such a situation. I knew that being "tagged" as a snitch was a very powerful disincentive, but discovering the root of this stigma was vital. Using crime fiction can help in this endeavor. It will give the students an opportunity to walk in the shoes of the detective and better understand the many challenges associated with uncooperative witnesses when trying to solve a crime. For those students who may not have the perceptual bias I am discussing, I hope this curriculum unit will enhance their knowledge base and offer them a broader opportunity to learn more about policing through fictional characters and events.
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