Final Paper Task: Write a 10 to 12 page paper in which you use evidence to support your position on whether or not the American Dream of each generation being able to achieve a level of success equal to or better than the previous generation can still be realized. Objectives: This paper has two broad objectives. The first is for you to critically and thoughtfully evaluate the impact that recent social and economic trends have had on the well-being of American individuals and families. Completing this task will help you understand the context in which your future financial planning clients live and make decisions. Possessing this type of understanding distinguishes our graduates from those of other programs, and is a quality that employers of our grads have appreciated. The second objective is to give you practice in doing quantitative and qualitative research. Completing this task will enhance your skill in obtaining data, evaluating data quality, using research results to support a position, and reporting research findings clearly, concisely, and correctly. This is a vitally important skill to have in financial services. Your success in the industry will depend to a large extent on your ability to take a large amount of numerical and statistical data and present it to clients in a form they can readily understand and act upon. Things to think about as you write: Throughout the semester, we have considered how well-being should be defined and measured. Readings and discussions of pro and con views on various issues during the semester highlighted two realities. One, values play a large role in directing the choices we make and the actions we take as individuals, as family units, and as broader communities. Two, we make those value-based choices in a society and economy that can expand or constrain the number and type of options from which we choose. At the beginning of this course, we developed working definitions of individual, family, and social values. We defined "family" and noted the expectations society has of "family." Once those definitions were in place, our exploration of the ability to achieve the American Dream began. Our discussion of the impact of dual earners on family well-being raised several questions. Does it really take two incomes to "make it" these days? Have we raised our expectations of what is included in "the good life" without giving serious consideration to what we have given up to get that life? Are we simply greedy materialists? Are the current generation just lazy, spoiled slackers who expect to have success handed to them rather than working hard to achieve it? Do we feel deprived because we look at what our parents had when we left home instead of what they had at our age? Or, are we struggling to provide basics in an economy and society that is very different from the one in which our parents and grandparents grew up? Do we expect work ...

1. Final Paper
Task: Write a 10 to 12 page paper in which you use evidence to
support your position on whether or not the American Dream of
each generation being able to achieve a level of success equal to
or better than the previous generation can still be realized.
Objectives: This paper has two broad objectives. The first is
for you to critically and thoughtfully evaluate the impact that
recent
social and economic trends have had on the well-being of
American individuals and families. Completing this task will
help you
understand the context in which your future financial planning
clients live and make decisions. Possessing this type of
understanding
distinguishes our graduates from those of other programs, and is
a quality that employers of our grads have appreciated. The
second
objective is to give you practice in doing quantitative and
qualitative research. Completing this task will enhance your
skill in
obtaining data, evaluating data quality, using research results to
support a position, and reporting research findings clearly,

2. concisely,
and correctly. This is a vitally important skill to have in
financial services. Your success in the industry will depend to
a large extent
on your ability to take a large amount of numerical and
statistical data and present it to clients in a form they can
readily understand
and act upon.
Things to think about as you write: Throughout the semester, we
have considered how well-being should be defined and
measured.
Readings and discussions of pro and con views on various
issues during the semester highlighted two realities. One,
values play a
large role in directing the choices we make and the actions we
take as individuals, as family units, and as broader
communities. Two,
we make those value-based choices in a society and economy
that can expand or constrain the number and type of options
from which
we choose.
At the beginning of this course, we developed working
definitions of individual, family, and social values. We defined
"family" and

3. noted the expectations society has of "family." Once those
definitions were in place, our exploration of the ability to
achieve the
American Dream began. Our discussion of the impact of dual
earners on family well-being raised several questions. Does it
really
take two incomes to "make it" these days? Have we raised our
expectations of what is included in "the good life" without
giving
serious consideration to what we have given up to get that life?
Are we simply greedy materialists? Are the current generation
just
lazy, spoiled slackers who expect to have success handed to
them rather than working hard to achieve it? Do we feel
deprived because
we look at what our parents had when we left home instead of
what they had at our age? Or, are we struggling to provide
basics in an
economy and society that is very different from the one in
which our parents and grandparents grew up? Do we expect
work and
consumption to answer the significant questions in life - who
am I, why am I here, where am I going, what must I do to be
saved (or
accepted)? Has time required for work and for obtaining and
maintaining "stuff" crowded out meaningful relationships and
community involvement in our lives?

4. Answering questions like these gives us insight into how
successful we really are in America today. Can your generation
achieve a
level of success equal to or better than the one realized by the
previous generation? To find out, we have examined or will
examine
trends in income, wages, jobs, taxation, consumption, household
debt, poverty and wealth. We will also examine the impact of
rising
health care costs and an aging population on achieving the
American Dream and see how the U.S. compares with other
industrialized
countries on a variety of economic and demographic measures.
As we examined these trends, we learned what is happening in
America, how long it has been happening, who is affected and
how.
We noted that the values one brings to the discussion influence
whether one sees the trends as obstacle or opportunity and
opposes or
advocates changing the trends. Some readings made us aware
that values can influence presentation. Sometimes we noted a
fine (or

5. not so fine) line between presenting facts and pushing a given
point of view.
Carefully consider the evidence we have examined over the
semester and take a clear stand on whether or not you believe it
is still
possible to realize the American Dream. Can your generation
do as well or better than your parents and your grandparents?
Meaningful comparisons must be "apples to apples." That is,
you must apply the same measures of success to each
generation.
Therefore, it is important to decide at the outset how you will
measure success.
Success measures are not just an academic exercise. Many
nonprofit and government organizations assess how "well off"
certain
groups of people are. These measures go by various names -
"success level," "well-being," "social indicators," "quality of
life." We
will treat these terms as synonymous. Sometimes students think
the task is too hard to accomplish or measurement is irrelevant
since
your point of comparison is your own past and not your
neighbor's present. Nonsense!! Developing measures of well-
being IS hard
work. Differences of opinion can exist. But, it can be done.

6. "Quality of life assessments" or measures of well-being
conducted by
various organizations are available on the internet. We will
look at some of these. You will note variations in the list of
items
measured, but the general consensus of those developing such
measures is that the use of broad economic indicators alone
(e.g. GDP,
unemployment rates, etc.) is NOT sufficient.
Assignment: The completed assignment is worth up to 85
points. Your audience is a member of Congress who is
intelligent but ill
informed about the well-being of the American people. This
person has just been appointed to serve on a government task
force
dedicated to improving the quality of life for the American
people. The task force will evaluate the effectiveness of
existing law and
propose new laws where justified. Your Congress-person is
relying on your report to help them complete this task.
Specific Paper Instructions
1. Take a clear stand on the American Dream

7. Select a Thesis Statement
The American Dream of each generation doing better
than the previous generation is ALIVE. Capitalism, a
commitment to being thrifty, favorable economic trends
and government policies have helped the dream to
thrive. The social contract between generations remains
intact.
OR
The American Dream of each generation doing better
than the previous generation is DEAD. The faults of
capitalism, over consumption, adverse economic trends
and government policies have contributed to the demise
of the dream. The social contract between generations
has been broken.
OR…the Dream is changing…OR…an original thesis (must be
instructor approved)

8. 2. Define Well-Being [5 points]: define well-being so clearly
that your grandmother would understand what you mean. Use
the
results of your individual and group work on this question.
Consider, when we say that the American Dream is to "achieve
a level of
success equal to or better than the previous generation" what do
we really mean? What is and is not included in the word
"success" or
its equivalent terms "well-being" or "life quality"?
3. Measure Well-Being in 3 major parts of American life [30
points]:
a. Select topics
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Economic Well-Being Quality of Life Community Well-Being
s
Wages (not minimum wage) Spirituality / life purpose Housing
Jobs Environment
Wealth Culture

9. Poverty Recreation and Leisure
Health Education
Transportation
b. Select measures
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Economic Well-Being Quality of Life Community Well-Being
<< your edited trend report goes here >>
Topic: Spirituality / life purpose Your Topic:
Your Measure: Your Measure:
c. Research trends for each of your 3 measures:
1. Describe what has happened over the past 25 years. If
historical data are hard to locate, describe trends as far
back as you can. Consider using figures to summarize trends
for presentation.
2. Evaluate reasons for the trend. Why has moved the trend line
up or down?
3. Assess who has been affected by the trend. Has the effect
been positive or negative? Does the effect differ by
group (e.g. level of education, age, race/ethnicity, work status,
etc.) Explain.

10. 4. Argue persuasively for one or two changes in law or society
that would alter the trend.
5. Anticipate the arguments that your critics will have.
Acknowledge the counter arguments and explain why
they are incomplete or incorrect.
Section 3 of your paper MUST include, at a minimum:
aph/chart properly
formatted and referenced in your paper
America
the class during the semester
ce that is relevant to the
assignment
4. Evaluate effectiveness of federal government rules and laws
in improving family/household economic well-being [10
points]
Go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/economy Select ONE
laws/proposals that President Obama has either signed into

11. law or has advocated that is directly related to household
economic resources. Specify the action that the federal
government
is proposing to take or has taken in detail. Critically evaluate
the potential effect of the given federal government action on
more than one type of household (e.g. those in poverty vs those
not; households stratified by income level, race, region, etc.).
What exactly would happen, to whom, why, and how long?
Compare your findings for the different household types.
Would
outcomes be similar or different? Why?
State whether or not you believe the proposed action will help
or harm families in the short and long run. Consider
implications of the legislation carefully. Often, laws designed
to fix one problem will lead to other problems. Avoid
simplistic
generalizations, evaluations, or conclusions.
5. Compare and contrast what you found out about your 3 trends
with
a. What is currently happening in Missouri [15 points]
i. Is the snapshot of your three measures (one related to
economic well-being, one related to spirituality/life
purpose, one related to community well-being) in Missouri

12. similar to or different from national level trends in
those measures? Explain. Be specific.
b. The economic life history of someone aged 65 and older [10
points]
i. Briefly describe the life circumstances of your interviewee
ii. Consider your interviewee’s life and choices in the context of
our examination of the American Dream over the
semester and in light of your research on your three well-being
measures. In what specific ways does your
interviewee’s life and choices correspond with or provide a
counterpoint to what we have observed and
discussed? Give supporting quotes or references as appropriate.
6. Reflect on your work [5 points]
a. Restate your position on whether or not your generation can
realize the American Dream. Recap the specific reasons
why you believe the dream is or is not still in reach. To support
your stand, give evidence from: (1) your research on
trends in three components of well-being; (2) your assessment
of well-being in Missouri using those measures; (3) your
assessment of intergenerational differences in economic and
social conditions from your interview.

13. b. After completing the assignment, briefly respond to each of
the following questions:
1. What did you find was the most difficult aspect of measuring
well-being?
2. What was your most surprising finding? What made it so?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of measuring well-
being? Is it better to use quantitative or qualitative,
objective or subjective, absolute or relative measures? Explain.
4. What role do you see values playing in choosing the items to
include in well-being and in choosing how to
measure those items
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/economy
5. What can we learn from measures of well-being? What can't
we learn from such measures?
6. How "culture bound" are the measures you have used? To
what extent could you use them to compare the
United States with other countries? How do your measures
compare with the ones that SWA authors use to
compare the performance of the US to other countries?
7. Write well [10 points]: Your paper WILL
1. Have a title page

14. 2. Stay within page length guidelines [pages length is excluding
title page, reference list, or relevant tables/graphs/figures]
3. Include page numbers printed at the bottom of the page, in
the center; page 1 is first page of text
4. Be double spaced, 10 point font or larger, Times Roman or
similar typeface.
5. Include at least one table and one graph, figure, or chart
integrated into the text. Correctly title and label
source of information below table/figure.
6. Use headers to separate sections. Place header flush left
margin, bold, triple space before and double space after.
7. Have correct citations in text and reference list (see
examples on BB)
8. Please use the template on the next page to format your
paper. Note the spacing to use between headers. Be sure
headers
are in bold. Using the headers in your paper will help you make
sure that you have included all required content and will help
facilitate the grading.
Yes, I really do want you to literally cut and paste the template
into your document and fill in exactly as given.

15. [Title of Your Paper]
{ TRIPLE space between title and first paragraph}
[Introduction and thesis statement goes here]
{TRIPLE space here}
Part I: Definition and measurement of well-being
{DOUBLE space here}
A Definition of well-being
{ DOUBLE space here}
B. Trends in well-being
{ DOUBLE space here}
C. Effectiveness of government policy
{TRIPLE space here}

16. Part II: Case application
{ DOUBLE space here}
A. A look at Missouri
{ DOUBLE space here}
B. A look at the life and times of <fill in name/pseudonym of
interviewee>
{TRIPLE space here}
Part III: Summary and evaluation
{ DOUBLE space here}
A. The American Dream is <alive/dead/changing> because…
{ DOUBLE space here}
B. Comments on measurement of well-being
_____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
[next page] Reference List
Additional Formatting Instructions

17. Writing Center has a good resource page to help you
with various citation formats:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/18/
Appendix A How to Brief a Case
Throughout this textbook, the authors cite a number of
important cases. The full-text court opinions for many of these
cases can be found online at the website that supports this book.
Your instructor may ask that you prepare a brief of some of
these cases or that you brief other cases that may be assigned.
Generally speaking, two types of briefs are used in the legal
profession. The first is extensive and summarizes cases,
statutes, regulations, and related legal materials that are
pertinent to a legal issue that is under consideration. It is
usually offered to a judge or to the court in support of the
position of the submitting party. A second type of brief—the
kind with which we are concerned here—is simply a concise
summary of the relevant facts of a single case. A brief of this
sort is prepared in order to analyze a case and to present needed
information in an abbreviated format that is convenient for use
in class or as part of legal research. To prepare a brief for use in
class, you need to read the court’s written opinion and take
notes on the case, being careful to arrange them in a specific
format. A case brief, which may be only one or two pages in
length, generally includes seven parts: (1) the case citation, (2)
a short statement of the facts of the case, (3) a brief procedural

18. history of the case, (4) a summation of the issue or issues
involved, (5) the court’s decision, (6) an overview of the
rationale provided by the court for its decision, and (7) notes to
yourself about the case. Each of these parts is briefly discussed
here.
Case Citation
The citation includes the name of the case (usually found
italicized or underlined at the top of the page in a case reporter
or in large boldfaced type at the beginning of an opinion
published online), conventional information needed to find the
case through legal research, a reference to the court that issued
the opinion, and the date the case was decided. A typical
citation might look like this: State v. Smith, 58 So. 2d 853 (Ala.
Crim. App. 1997) In this instance, 58 refers to the volume
number of the reporter in which the case has been published,
and So. 2d is the name of the reporter—in this case, the second
series of the Southern Reporter. The number 853 refers to the
page number in the reporter where the decision begins, Ala.
Crim. App. references the court issuing the decision (in this
case, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals), and 1997 is the
year in which the case was decided. Often court names are not
given, as one familiar with legal citation can deduce the court
from the name of the reporter. In that case, a citation may look
like this:
People v. Versaggi, 83 N.Y.2d 123 (1994)
Practiced legal researchers will probably understand that N.Y.
in this citation refers to the New York Court of Appeals.
Anyone who is not sure can check the reporter referenced by the
citation, in which the court’s entire name is given.
The citation format used in this book follows the convention of
italicizing the names of the plaintiff (in these examples, the

19. state or the “People”) and the defendant. Note that the v., which
appears between the names of the parties (and stands for versus)
is not italicized. Other formats may differ. To learn more about
legal citations, you might want to consult a printed guide, such
as A Uniform System of Citation,1 known in the legal
profession as the Bluebook.2 The Bluebook is the result of the
collaborative efforts of the Columbia Law Review Association,
the Harvard Law Review Association, the University of
Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Review. As an
alternative, you might also survey the appropriate format for
legal citations through an online service, such as Boston
College’s Law Library
(http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/library).
Relational electronic databases now under development will
soon allow rapid online retrieval of case opinions by employing
technologically advanced computerized search capabilities.
Newly emerging citation styles, needed to take full advantage of
the capabilities of such electronic case databases, have begun to
augment the standard citation format.
In recognition of such changes, the 2012 edition of the
Bluebook addresses citability of opinions found on the Internet.
It suggests, “The citation should consist of all the elements
required for the basic document type (e.g., case, constitution,
statute, regulation), followed by the appropriate signal, and as
complete an ID or address for the online electronic source as is
available.”3 An example might be:
LLR No. 9405161.PA, P10 [http://www.versuslaw.com]
In this example, from the Versus Law website, LLR refers to
Lawyer’s Legal Research, an electronic citation format created
by the Versus Law staff. The number after the LLR designator
refers to a specific case (in this instance, a 1994 Pennsylvania

20. Supreme Court case, Commonwealth v. Berkowitz), and the
letters after the period reference the jurisdiction (Pennsylvania).
P10 identifies the tenth paragraph in the case, and the URL for
Versus Law is provided in brackets.
On August 6, 1996, in an effort to further standardize case
citations, the ABA’s House of Delegates passed a motion to
recommend a universal citation system to the courts. The
resolution recommends that courts adopt a universal citation
system using sequential decision numbers for each year and
internal paragraph numbers within the decision. The numbers
should be assigned by the court and included in the decision at
the time it is made publicly available by the court. The standard
form of citation, shown for a decision in a federal court of
appeals, would be as follows:
Smith v. Jones, 1996 5Cir 15, ¶ 18, 22 F.3d 955
In this example, 1996 is the year of the decision; 5Cir refers to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; 15 indicates that
this citation is to the 15th decision released by the court in the
year; 18 is the paragraph number where the material referred to
is located; and the remainder is the parallel citation to the
volume and page in the printed case report, where the decision
may also be found.
Facts
The facts of a case, for purposes of a legal brief, refer to only
those facts that are essential to the court’s decision. Facts
should be presented in the form of a story and should relate
what happened that led to the defendant’s arrest. For example:
The defendant, Robert Versaggi, who worked for Eastman
Kodak Corporation as a computer technician at the time of his
arrest, was charged with two counts of computer tampering in

21. the second degree (under New York Penal Law § 156.20).
Authorities alleged that Versaggi intentionally altered two
computer programs designed to provide uninterrupted telephone
service to the offices of Eastman Kodak Corporation. It was
also alleged that, as a result of Versaggi’s actions,
approximately 2,560 of the lines at the Kodak Park Complex
were shut down and use of another 1,920 lines was impaired for
approximately an hour and a half on October 10, 1986, before
company employees were able to restore service. As a result, a
substantial number of the employees working at that large
industrial complex, with the potential for dangerous chemical
spills and accidents, were unable to receive calls, to call outside
the complex, or to call 911 or similar emergency services. On
November 19, 1986, a second interruption occurred. Essentially
all service at Kodak’s State Street office was shut down for four
minutes before the computer reactivated itself. As a result, all
outside telephone calls, from the company’s customers and
offices worldwide, were disconnected. Evidence against
Versaggi consisted of telephone company and computer records
showing that he accessed Kodak computers from his home
computer at the time of both incidents and had instructed them
to shut down.
History
The legal history of a case describes what occurred before the
case reached its current level. Legal history should consist of a
rendering of who was arrested, what he or she was charged
with, and the findings of trial and appellate courts. In the case
just cited, for example, the words of the New York Court of
Appeals provide a concise legal history:
Charged with two counts of computer tampering, [the defendant
was found guilty by] Rochester City Court . . . of two counts of
computer tampering in the second degree. [The court

22. determined] that [the defendant] intentionally altered two
computer programs designed to provide uninterrupted telephone
service to the offices of the Eastman Kodak Corporation. The
County Court affirmed.
Issue
The question before the court, or the legal issue that the court
is being asked to resolve, should be plainly stated. It will
always be a question about the law, the application of a specific
law, or a general legal principle. Sometimes there is more than
one issue. Even so, the issue can often be stated in one or two
sentences, although occasionally a statement of the issue or
issues requires more detail. Keep in mind that questions have
been concisely stated if they can be answered with a “yes” or a
“no.” Frequently, the court states the issue itself in language
like this: “The issue before the court is whether . . .,” and such
a statement can be incorporated directly into the brief.
Continuing with the case of People v. Versaggi, for example, we
might state the issue as follows:
Does merely entering commands without changing any programs
or computer code constitute tampering or altering within the
meaning of the statute? The defendant argued that he could not
be guilty under New York law of tampering with a computer
program because he did not alter or change any programs. He
claimed that he merely entered commands, which allowed the
disconnect instructions of each program to function. Hence, the
issue for the court became deciding whether the defendant’s
conduct was encompassed within the language of the tampering
statute.
One trick you can use to easily spot issues is to look for the
word whether. The issue usually follows.
Decision (or Finding) What did the court rule? How did it

23. answer the question before it? You should remember that the
decision of the court can always be stated in “yes” or “no”
fashion and that an appellate court may affirm or reverse the
decision of a lower court. Appellate courts may also send a case
back to a lower court for review or retrial. In the case we have
been using as an example, the decision might be stated as
follows:
Yes. The appellate court affirmed the judgment of the lower
court and upheld the defendant’s conviction.
Rationale
In their written opinions, courts explain the reasons they had
for reaching their decision. It may be that the court applied or
interpreted a particular statute, that it analyzed previous cases
and decided the present one within the context of such historical
decisions, or that the court chose to create a new precedent
based on the majority’s sense of justice and fairness. Summaries
of such rationales, especially as they are stated in the written
opinion of the court, should be contained in your brief. Hence
an analysis of this case might conclude:
The court reasoned that, although the word alter, as contained
within the New York computer-tampering statute, means “to
change or modify,” the legislature had “attached expansive
language to the verb,” stating that the crime consisted of
altering a computer program “in any manner.” The term
computer program was not defined by the statute, but the court
reasoned that a computer program consists of “an ordered set of
instructions” given to a computer telling it how to function.
Hence, according to the court’s interpretation, the defendant
modified the computer’s programming by sending it instructions
via his modem and thereby violated the computer-tampering
statute.

24. Your Notes
For purposes of further study, you should take notes for your
own use. You might want to outline what you think about the
case. Do you agree or disagree with the conclusion reached by
the court? Why? Could the court have used a different rationale
in reaching its decision? If so, what? Perhaps you will want to
note dissenting or concurring opinions. Finally, you might want
to note what lessons you learned from a review of the case.
In 1986, the New York state legislature modified the state
penal code to include five new crimes: unauthorized use of a
computer (Penal Law § 156.05); computer trespass (Penal Law §
156.10); computer tampering (Penal Law §§ 156.20 and
156.25); unlawful duplication of computer-related material
(Penal Law § 156.30); and criminal possession of computer-
related material (Penal Law § 156.35). Versaggi could not
logically be indicted for the crimes of unauthorized use of a
computer because he had lawful access to the computer whose
services he disrupted. Moreover, he had not duplicated any
computer-related materials, nor had he in his possession any
computer-related materials that he had not been authorized to
possess. Hence he was charged with the crime of “computer
trespass.
” NOTES 1. A Uniform System of Citation, 17th ed.
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law Review Association, 2001).
2. Bluebook format requires that the v. between parties be
italicized. 3. A Uniform System of Citation, Section 2-110(2).
Worksheet Additional Information
Class in your week 2 worksheet, question 4 of Part II asks you

25. to explain the (case) citations of the 4 cases listed. A case
citation is the "address" of where a court opinion, the case, can
be found in a court reporter. A court reporter is a book of all of
the published court decisions/opinions of a particular court. The
case citation is NOT a description of the facts of the case. I
have provided an attachment that should help explain the
different parts (elements) of a case citation, so that you can
properly answer the question. You can also go back to week 1
and open the Appendix A to your e-text Criminal Law Today.
(A) The case Campbell v. Acuff-Rose, Inc. was decided in 1994.
The case is published in volume 510 of U.S. Reports beginning
on page 569.
The case is also published in volume 114 of Supreme Court
Reporter beginning on page 1164, and in Lawyer's Edition
Second Series beginning on page 500.
(B) The case Warner Bros. v. ABC was decided in 1983 by the
Court of Appeals and is published in volume 720 of the Federal
Reporter Second Series beginning on page 231.
(C) The case McConnell v. Beverly was decided in 1989 by the
Connecticut Supreme Court and was published in volume 209
of Connecticut Reports beginning on page 692. It was also
published in volume 553 of Atlantic Reporter Second Series
beginning on page 596.
Note the 2d in A. 2d, F.2d and L.Ed.2d. Reporter sets often
have more than one series, and volume numbers repeat: 47 F.
335 is not the same as 47 F.2d 335 or 47 F.3d 335.
Week Two Worksheet

26. CJA/305 Version 2
1
Week Two Worksheet
Part II: Short Answer
Answer, in a minimum of 50 words, each of the following
questions:
1. What is the adversarial system?
2. Define inchoate offenses. Provide an example of an inchoate
offense.
3. Using Contemporary Criminal Law and Criminal Law Today,
list the identified steps to brief a case. Why is it important to
follow these steps?
4. Using the Appendix from Ch. 1 of Contemporary Criminal
Law as a resource, explain the citations for each of the
following cases:
a. George T. v. California section in Ch. 2 of Contemporary
Criminal Law
b. Lawrence v. Texas section in Ch. 2 of Contemporary
Criminal Law
c. Roper v. Simmons section in Ch. 3 of Contemporary Criminal
Law
d. People v. Kellogg section in Ch. 4 of Contemporary Criminal
Law
American Dream
… that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer
and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to
his ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the
European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of
us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a
dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of

27. social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to
attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable,
and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the
fortuitous circumstances of birth or position
James Truslow Adams, 1931, Epic of America
Is the American Dream Alive or Dead?
7 steps to making your case
85 points to earn
Step 1
Take a stand on the vitality of the American Dream
Alive?
Dead?
Changing?
Step 2 [5 points]
Define Well-Being
so clearly that your grandmother
could understand what you mean

28. HAPPY
Step 3 [30 points]
Measure Well-Being in
3 major parts of
American Life
By asking questions
What has been happening?
Why have trends gone up or down?
Who has been affected?
Better off? Worse off? Depends?
And engaging in discussion
Argue persuasively for one or two specific ways to make a
positive change
Anticipate critics and explain why their perspectives are
incorrect or incomplete

29. Topic Areas
Part 1: Economic Well-Being
Select ONE topic area
Wages (NOT minimum wage)
Jobs
Wealth
Poverty
Health
Part 2:
Spirituality / Life Purpose

30. Part 3: Community Well-Being
Select ONE Topic Area
Housing
Environment
Culture
Recreation and Leisure
Education
Transportation
Step 4 [10 points]:
Evaluate effectiveness of a current federal policy to improve
family/household well-being
Step 5: Application
Use your 3 measures of well-being to evaluate current status of
Missouri residents [15 points]
Interview someone aged 65 or older about their economic life

31. history [10 points]
How did their values, goals, resources, and broad socio-
economic conditions shape their lives?
How was their life affected by the trends you studied?
Step 6 [5 points]:
Reflect
On your position on the vitality American Dream
On the process of research and measurement
Step 7 [10 points]:
Write well!
Use writing resources.

32. Take Stand on American Dream
Define Well-Being
Measure Well-Being
Evaluate Effectiveness of Federal Policy
Assess State of Missouri Well-Being
Discover Economic Life History of > 65
Reflect on Position and Process
Trend Report
Will become a part of the final paper
Take Stand on American Dream

33. Define Well-Being
Measure Well-Being
Evaluate Effectiveness of Federal Policy
Assess State of Missouri Well-Being
Discover Economic Life History of > 65
Reflect on Position and Process
Trend Report Focus:
only Economic Well-being
Final Paper
will include:
> spirituality / life purpose
> community
Trend Report Instructions
Decide if you view the American Dream as

34. Alive?
Dead?
Changing?
Evidence needs to support your position
Measure Economic Well-Being
Select ONE topic area
Wages (NOT minimum wage)
Jobs
Wealth
Poverty
Health
Ask Questions
What has been happening?
Why have trends gone up or down?
Who has been affected?
Better off? Worse off? Depends?
Engage in Discussion
Argue persuasively for one or two specific ways to make a

35. positive change
Anticipate critics and explain why their perspectives are
incorrect or incomplete
The Trend Report MUST include:
at least one table or one figure/graph/chart properly formatted
and referenced in your paper
The Trend Report MUST include:
one specific supporting quote from State of Working America
one supporting quote from any other reading material used in
the class during the semester
one reference from an outside source that is relevant to the
assignment

36. Write well!
Use writing resources:
The online Writery https://writingcenter.missouri.edu/
Your friendly, helpful instructor