Topic: A Test of Youth Justice - The Reena Virk Case Comes Full Circle
Tasks:
The class will divide into two parties: one party calling for more severe reactions in the state's response to youth crime, and another party calling for restraint in the state's reaction to youth crime
Planning Session: Each party will take just 15 minutes to prepare their arguments and gather evidence in support of their position.
Elect Representatives: Each party will then elect one or two speakers to represent their party's views on a panel of experts.
Panel Discussion: The class, divided in their two parties, will ask questions of the experts within the context of a moderated panel discussion.
Discussion Questions:
Questions provided by your host, Mustafa Abdulhusein.
1. What was her cause of death?
2. What is the reason behind this gruesome murder? IE, racism, packet of cigs
3. What was the sentencing given to all of the accused and do you believe that the difference in time is fair, why or why not?
4. Does your side feel that this sentencing was reasonable?
5. If you don’t feel its fair, suggest ways that you believe would make it fair.
6. Given her violent nature, why was Kelly Ellard allowed out on bail?
7. Should her chance at parole change?
8. Female violence is evidently growing. Why is this? And what steps can be taken to curve it down?
9. Ellard’s ground for an appeal was that the crown asked inappropriate questions. Do you think that this is a viable argument given the gravity of the crime and what would you have done as an appeal judge?
10. Was it an appropriate decision to bump Kelly’s case up to adult court? Why or why not? And if her case stayed in youth justice court, then what do you think her sentence should be?
11. Since this is a unit about Youth Crime, how does this particular case reflect on our current system?
12. If our system is not effective, what steps can we take to improve it?
13. Most statistics point that our youth crime is on a decline, including the general crime rate. Why would this be occurring? 14. Youth crime affects some of the people on the discussion panel. Knowing that some of your friends were going to be bumped to adult court or if youth crime was going to be stricter on them (if they committed a particular offence), would your position on youth crime change at all? Why or why not?
15. If our youth criminal system is not up to your expectations, what country or system would you model it after, assuming that all these powers were given to you today? Tell us why.
Resources:
Handouts/Exercises:
Relevent Web Sites: