Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: U.S. Soldier Pleads Guilty in Iraqi Abuse Case, Receives Maximum Sentence, 5/19/04
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/courtmartial_5-19.html

Initiating Questions:

1. Do you think that the soldiers pictured with the Iraqi prisoners should be punished?

2. What is a court-martial?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What was the outcome of the first court-martial in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal?

Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits, one of seven U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi detainees, pleaded guilty to four charges of abuse during a court appearance Wednesday. The military judge gave him the maximum sentence of one year in prison, a reduction of his military rank and a bad conduct discharge.

2. When in U.S. history did a soldier face a court-martial?

In 1970, more than two dozen American soldiers and officers stood trial for the massacre of villagers during the Vietnam War. The My Lai Massacre, named for the village where it occurred, focused world attention on U.S. action in Vietnam, much like the Abu Ghraib abuse has focused attention on Iraq.

3. What is a court-martial?

A court-martial is the military's way of investigating and punishing members of the armed forces who break the law. As opposed to the typical local or state laws, Congress enacted the Uniform Code of Military Justice that outlines the laws governing soldiers and sailors and punishments they will face if they are convicted of breaking the code.

4. What kind of court-martial did Army Specialist Jeremy Sivits have? Explain possible consequences of this kind of trial.

A special court-martial, like the one Sivits just had, is overseen by a judicial panel of at least three officers and a military judge. Any military member of any rank can be brought before a special court-martial and it deals with crimes that would be considered "misdemeanors." The level of punishment can include a year in military jail, loss of pay and a bad conduct discharge.

5. What is a "plea bargain" and what role did it play in the Sivits case?

Soldiers can also "plea bargain" like in civilian courts. A plea bargain is when the accused admits some guilt, usually to lesser charges, and may agree to help the prosecution in related cases. In exchange, the accused is given a lighter sentence. This is what happened in the Sivits case. He pleaded guilty to four charges against him, including maltreating prisoners and dereliction of duty. He also promised to cooperate with prosecutors in trying his fellow soldiers.

6. How are courts-martial and civilian cases different?

Of course, there are some differences between courts-martial and civilian cases. In courts-martial, only two-thirds of the members of the panels, or "juries," have to agree on a verdict, unlike in civilian cases where the jury must reach a unanimous verdict.

Also, if the accused is found guilty, sentencing, which is done by the jury panel, is done immediately. In civilian cases, sentencing -- done by the presiding judge -- is passed down weeks or even months later.

 

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Research more about why military personnel are tried in military courts rather than civilian courts. How might the outcomes be different? Explain your answer.

2. Do you agree with Eugene Fidell's assessment of the importance of these courts-martial? Why or why not? Explain.

"I can't think of a more important set of courts-martial," Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, told The Washington Post. "[Given] the extraordinary volatile climate in which these cases are going to play out domestically and internationally, in political terms, in legal terms and in military justice terms, this is kind of a perfect storm."

Write a 300-500 word essay on either of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.