Cynthia H. Roberts
Learning Objectives:
l) help students increase their thinking skills and decision making process.
2) apply questions to decision-making process.
In this lesson plan, students will be presented with two true stories about two young people who were taken to juvenile courts in New York and California. Students will read each person’s story. Then try to decide what they think state and local government agencies should do about such young people.
STORY # 1—SONNY BOY
Sonny Boy grew up in New York. Here is His own account of a day when he and his friends got into trouble.
Turk, Bucky, and I went down to the backyard to steal sheets and some bedspreads. We could sell them for about three or four dollars and buy a bag of reefers. We’d roll up and get high and then go do something crazy.
We went in the backyard and got some bedspreads. Then we sent Bucky to sell them to one of our customers. Turk and I went to get some more spreads. Turk tied a rock to the end of a rope and threw the rock up over the spreads to pull them down . . . Then he stopped all of a sudden and said, ‘Run, Run, Sonny! Run!‘
Turk started running. Then I heard a shot, one shot. Blam! I saw some fire from a gun, and I started running. When I got about midway on the stairs leading up from the backyard, it seemed to just dawn on me. I thought, ‘Somebody’s shooting at us.’ I kept on running.
Then, after I had gotten out of the backyard, I don’t know what happened. But suddenly I knew I was shot. I didn’t feel any blood right away. I didn’t feel any pain. I didn’t feel anything. All I felt was that I was slowing down. It was like something had a hold on me, and I knew it was a bullet.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) would you call Sonny Boy a delinquent?
2) Would you send him to prison with adults?
3) Would you lock him up with young lawbreakers?
4) Would you let him go free?
5) What would you have done differently? Why?
STORY # 2—ANN
Ann grew up on the West Coast. Here is a newspaper reporter’s description of her life.
Ann, the youngest of 12 children, was a child in trouble from the start. Her mother was divorced before Ann was born, and Ann never met her father.
When Ann was five, her mother remarried. Not long after that, Ann was molested by her new stepfather. This was discovered after she ran away from home. The stepfather went to prison. The little girl began visiting a psychiatrist.
There was little happiness in Ann’s life. At age nine she went to court for the first time when she ran away with some teenage boys. Less than a year later, her mother sent her to Seattle to live with a half sister and brother-in-law. When Ann ran away from their home, she went to court for the second time.
The judge decided to send Ann back to California to live with a half brother. Not long afterward, he was arrested for selling drugs, forgery, and other crimes. The little girl ran away again. When she was picked up by police, she was returned to her mother. Again Ann ran away and again she went to court.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Would you call Ann a delinquent?
2) What should the courts do with her?
3) What so you think would happen to her if she lived your city?
4) Would she get involved in crime?
5) Would she be helped by any government agencies?