Officers took the opportunity to talk about traffic safety.Kids guess how fast an airbag inflates. It’s about 240 mph.This “legal team” presents a shoplifting case.One student acted as the mock trial’s judge.A jury of three boys during the mock trial. The result was a rare hung jury as one boy insisted that the prosecutor had not proven that the defendant had stolen merchandise.The courthousewalls were adorned with years worth of posters commemorating past law days.Washington State Patrol officers answer questions during a question-and-answer session.Harley, a scenting dog, was adopted by police after abandonment as a puppy.Students pet Harley.Lynnwood Municipal Court Judge Valerie Bouffiou, Edmonds Court Administrator Uneek Maylor, Snohomish County District Court Judge Elizabeth “Beth” Fraser and Legal Process Assistant Renee Navlet, a key planner in Law Day
Over 700 fifth graders from local schools were educated about the legal system May 11 during the 34th annual Law Day at Snohomish County District Court South Division in Lynnwood.
The students were able to go into the courthouse for events that included a traffic safety presentation, a mock trial, a K-9 demonstration and a question-and-answer session with representatives from the Washington Stata Patrol.
Event organizer Renee Navlet, a legal process assistant, said that the theme this year was to bridge gaps among law enforcement, the justice system and the students.
— Story and photos by Jasmine Contreras-Lewis
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I can agree with the idea I hope they impressioned them on how it works and the consequences of actions. Hard to let a child run free if they don’t understand the consequences of their actions. Is it bad for society to tolerate bad behavior? I think so. Can’t we demand personal responsibility from our children? Everyone has excuses especially children cause they are learning the more tolerant we are the more bad behavior we are going to get. Starts young and if you are paying attention it is obvious where it leads. You can only have great freedom with great responsibility, which way are we headed?
This program sounds like a worthy introduction to civics, an area of study that ought to be strengthened. Democracy is not a self-actuating form of government. People need to be taught how it works, how we got here (history), and how to be an informed and engaged citizen in our democratic society. Fifth grade may be a little young but hopefully schools will follow up with more comprehensive civics courses in middle school and high school.
I came of age during the Cold War when civics education was a big deal. It was important to teach students about how democracy was better than communism. We visited the county courthouse and witnessed an actual trial in progress. We talked to attorneys on both sides and the judge, about how the process works. We talked to the mayor and councilmembers about city government. We toured the capitol in Olympia and talked with our legislators.
Too much of traditional civics education has gone away, diminished to a week or two in a social studies curriculum. Given all the challenges democracy faces in this country and around the world, it’s past time to restore, to rejuvenate civics education in our school systems.
Considering an ex-President who openly tried to violently over throw the government and the Constitution with the cheerful help of political opportunists, who should know better; I’d say we have way more than a problem of not teaching civics. We have a problem of about one third of our entire population thinking switching to a strong man Dictatorship is just the right answer to all our problems.
When you are led by people at any level of government who don’t think rules apply to them; you no longer have a Democracy. You have a Plutocracy, and based on what we now know about Clarence Thomas on our Supreme Court, I’d say we are already there. Just teaching civics is probably too little, too late.
Our two party system has become a liability instead of an asset and the parties don’t really mean anything anymore. It’s self serving people like DJT and Clarence Thomas who are destroying our Democracy and who don’t understand basic civics or ethics. Most young people are so busy just trying to survive the expensive and complicated world they have been handed, they could care less about civics.
Your points about Trump and Thomas are well taken. When you think of self-serving individuals in government who don’t think rules apply to them let’s add to the mix Secretary of State Clinton and Vice President Biden whose offices were up for sale to the highest foreign bidders. Nationally the leadership is a complete mess it’s astounding that me that one side can’t figure out their own poop smells just as bad. Fortunately, we at least have some term limits to throw the bums out and get some new bums.
Thanks, Brian, for making my points even clearer. Both parties pretty much stink and you and I probably disagree on which stinks just a little worse. All I know is Biden is not a wanna be Dictator who will refuse to leave if he loses and Trump was and will be again if he wins again. It makes me almost physically ill to think our National choice for a leader is between two old men who both have a history of being creepy in various ways and who should be playing golf, going on cruises and letting someone else (preferably much younger) have a chance to shine. We are both badly off subject here and that is my fault; so I better drop it before Teresa has to ban me for life.
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I can agree with the idea I hope they impressioned them on how it works and the consequences of actions. Hard to let a child run free if they don’t understand the consequences of their actions. Is it bad for society to tolerate bad behavior? I think so. Can’t we demand personal responsibility from our children? Everyone has excuses especially children cause they are learning the more tolerant we are the more bad behavior we are going to get. Starts young and if you are paying attention it is obvious where it leads. You can only have great freedom with great responsibility, which way are we headed?
This program sounds like a worthy introduction to civics, an area of study that ought to be strengthened. Democracy is not a self-actuating form of government. People need to be taught how it works, how we got here (history), and how to be an informed and engaged citizen in our democratic society. Fifth grade may be a little young but hopefully schools will follow up with more comprehensive civics courses in middle school and high school.
I came of age during the Cold War when civics education was a big deal. It was important to teach students about how democracy was better than communism. We visited the county courthouse and witnessed an actual trial in progress. We talked to attorneys on both sides and the judge, about how the process works. We talked to the mayor and councilmembers about city government. We toured the capitol in Olympia and talked with our legislators.
Too much of traditional civics education has gone away, diminished to a week or two in a social studies curriculum. Given all the challenges democracy faces in this country and around the world, it’s past time to restore, to rejuvenate civics education in our school systems.
Considering an ex-President who openly tried to violently over throw the government and the Constitution with the cheerful help of political opportunists, who should know better; I’d say we have way more than a problem of not teaching civics. We have a problem of about one third of our entire population thinking switching to a strong man Dictatorship is just the right answer to all our problems.
When you are led by people at any level of government who don’t think rules apply to them; you no longer have a Democracy. You have a Plutocracy, and based on what we now know about Clarence Thomas on our Supreme Court, I’d say we are already there. Just teaching civics is probably too little, too late.
Our two party system has become a liability instead of an asset and the parties don’t really mean anything anymore. It’s self serving people like DJT and Clarence Thomas who are destroying our Democracy and who don’t understand basic civics or ethics. Most young people are so busy just trying to survive the expensive and complicated world they have been handed, they could care less about civics.
Your points about Trump and Thomas are well taken. When you think of self-serving individuals in government who don’t think rules apply to them let’s add to the mix Secretary of State Clinton and Vice President Biden whose offices were up for sale to the highest foreign bidders. Nationally the leadership is a complete mess it’s astounding that me that one side can’t figure out their own poop smells just as bad. Fortunately, we at least have some term limits to throw the bums out and get some new bums.
Thanks, Brian, for making my points even clearer. Both parties pretty much stink and you and I probably disagree on which stinks just a little worse. All I know is Biden is not a wanna be Dictator who will refuse to leave if he loses and Trump was and will be again if he wins again. It makes me almost physically ill to think our National choice for a leader is between two old men who both have a history of being creepy in various ways and who should be playing golf, going on cruises and letting someone else (preferably much younger) have a chance to shine. We are both badly off subject here and that is my fault; so I better drop it before Teresa has to ban me for life.