NCJ Number
169824
Date Published
1995
Length
243 pages
Annotation
This student text provides lesson content and student exercises for a course that introduces students to four ideas basic to America's constitutional form of government: authority, privacy, responsibility, and justice.
Abstract
Three lessons consider the nature of authority. Students learn the difference between authority and power without authority, and they examine various sources of authority and the need for authority in society. This unit is designed to help students deal with difficult questions about people in authority and the rules that govern the students' lives. Other units and lessons pertinent to authority consider evaluation of candidates for positions of authority, the evaluation of rules and law, the benefits and costs of authority, and what should be the scope and limits of authority. Four units on privacy, with attendant lessons, focus on the importance of privacy, the factors that explain differences in privacy behavior, some benefits and costs of privacy, and what should be the scope and limits of privacy. Four units on responsibility consider the nature of responsibility, the benefits and costs of fulfilling responsibility, how to choose among competing responsibilities, and who should be considered responsible. Four unit on justice address the definition of justice and three types of justice: distributive justice, corrective justice, and procedural justice. A glossary and a copy of amendments to the U.S. Constitution