The course is open to all majors and has no prerequisites. Please email scompara@siu.edu if you have any questions.
This course is designed to introduce students to the law, and the legal system in the United States. You will become familiar with specific areas of the law as well as with different approaches to judicial decision making within the legal system. You will also be introduced to the various resources available to members of the legal profession and you will gain experience using these resources in completing your assignments. Additionally, you should become adept at briefing legal cases by the end of the course. Additionally, through an intensive simulation, students will learn about the process through which Supreme Court justices reach particular outcomes. Students will be responsible for taking on the roles of litigants, interest groups and justices in a simulation of the Court's processes. Through this simulation, students will gain a greater appreciation of the work conducted by the Court and the forces that shape legal policy.
The course is broken into two sections. The first covers material on the nature and purpose of law, structure of the judicial system, and judicial decision making. The second part of the course is devoted to substantive areas of the law. We will cover a number of topics, including constitutional law, civil liberties, criminal procedure, and alternative dispute resolution. In a course of this nature, there is no way that we can devote the time to cover these topics in the depth that they deserve, but hopefully you will be motivated to pursue these topics in greater detail in other courses.
The Syllabus for this course is currently available.
The Reading List provides a bibliographic list of sources for research on the justices, litigants, and issues. These citations to relevant literature that will assist you in researching judicial decision-making, the jurisprudence of the justices, litigant brief writing, opinion writing, background relevant to litigants in the legal process, and the issues involved in the cases assigned.
You may also access information about the decisions of the Supreme Court, federal courts, and state courts, as well as information on legal research and writing via sources on the Web.
Crime and Punishment is a computer simulation that will assist you in preparing for some of the issues that confront litigants and judges at the trial level.
Go to the Simulation for information regarding the cases that will serve as the basis of the simulation.
This course will be maintained using WebCT. The syllabus, course calendar, assignments, message and discussion boards, mail system, grades, and student homepages are available on the course page. For students enrolled in this course, detailed instructions to assist you in creating a WebCT account can be found here. I am willing to provide information on course content to those outside of Southern Illinois University that express interest. Please email me for more information.
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URL: http://www.siu.edu/scompara/pols330sim.html
Last Updated: January 15th, 2004