BOOK:

INSTRUCTIONS OF THE PAPER:
Essay 2 Assignment
Essay 2 is a 5-7 page minimum (typed and double-spaced) paper about pp. 1-202 of Devil’s Knot by Mara Leveritt. (Longer than 7 pages is acceptable.)
Briefly summarize the known details of the crime, the reasons why Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin came to be suspects in the crime, the reason why Jessie Misskelley was questioned by police about the crime, and the reason why all three came to be arrested and charged with the crime. Next, present the key aspects of the prosecution’s case against Misskelley at his trial, and the key aspects of the case by Misskelley’s defense at his trial. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the prosecution’s and defense’s cases. In your judgment, did the jury reach the correct verdict? Provide a well-reasoned defense of your judgment, one that directly addresses the strongest points of the opposite perspective. Feel free to include any other information or specific aspects of the case from this part of the book (up to page 202), but not directly part of Misskelley’s trial, that helps support your judgment.

Remember that the analysis portion of the essay is just as important as the summary, so be sure to spend sufficient time making sure that both portions of the essay are well-developed.

EXAMPLE OF MY WRITING:
As we see here in this article a 14-years old boy attempted to kill an 87-year old woman while she was sleeping in the retirement home. The police officer had no idea how he got into Temecula and how he was discovered. There’s not enough evidence of the cause of his action. It didn’t say if he was on any medications or if it was a poor judgment with friends. Maybe the teen got tired of seeing a lot of homeless folks at the retirement home, or maybe he made a bet with his friends to tell him to do something that he shouldn’t be doing. In chapter 4 as we see here that because adults cannot serve as role models and social institutions are frayed or absent, law-violating youth groups and gangs form and are free to recruit neighborhood youths. Both boys and girls who feel detached and alienated from their social variety of illegal activities, including drug dealing and crime, their true purpose is to provide a platform for members to confront poverty, racism, and conflict. Because informal and formal avenues of social control have become frayed, kids, are given a free hand to mix with deviant peers. As a result, poor kids are more likely to engage in drug use and violence than the affluent. As we see here we need to provide the young teens with a lot of care, such as outdoor activities or tutoring for the kids so they can stay out of trouble. No matter how busy we get in our lives, we need to take a few minutes or a couple of hours to give the child a loving that they needed. Disorganized neighborhoods suffer social incivility-trash and litter, graffiti, burned-out buildings, drunks, vagabonds, loiterers, prostitutes, noise, congestion, angry words. In contrast as we see here in this paragraph, if the neighborhood is bad with disorganized constructions, violence, drug-dealers, or graffiti uses we can see how or why the kid would suffer or do something ironic. If the child grew up in the upper class with a good neighborhood he might be doing okay. As we see with the broken window theory from poor neighbor to good neighborhood we need to help our kids no matter which area we’re living at so they would not cause any trouble for anyone.