The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to announce a great­ly expand­ed ver­sion of its col­lege-lev­el cur­ricu­lum, Capital Punishment in Context (CPIC). The cur­ricu­lum is free to pro­fes­sors and stu­dents and is avail­able online. The cur­ricu­lum uses a case-study approach, pro­vid­ing detailed fac­tu­al accounts of actu­al death penal­ty cas­es, along with a rich vari­ety of sup­ple­men­tary mate­ri­als. Probing ques­tions for addi­tion­al research are offered in a vari­ety of issue areas. Supplementing the case stud­ies of Gary Graham and Juan Garza, CPIC now offers stud­ies on Anthony Porter and Aileen Wuornos, whose cas­es gar­nered sig­nif­i­cant nation­al atten­tion. Porter was exon­er­at­ed after stu­dents at the Medill School of Journalism inves­ti­gat­ed his case. Wuornos, who was accused of being a ser­i­al killer, was the sub­ject of wide­spread media atten­tion and at least two movies. The col­lege cur­ricu­lum pro­vides a com­plete nar­ra­tive of each case, includ­ing orig­i­nal resources such as homi­cide reports, affi­davits, and tran­scripts of tes­ti­mo­ny from wit­ness­es. The nar­ra­tives are fol­lowed by a dis­cus­sion of the issues raised by each case, enabling stu­dents to research fur­ther into a broad vari­ety of top­ics. The cur­ricu­lum has been wide­ly used by edu­ca­tors across the coun­try in such fields as soci­ol­o­gy, civics, crim­i­nal jus­tice and many other areas.

(DPIC Posted, October 25, 2011). DPIC also has a free, online cur­ricu­lum for high school stu­dents at www​.death​penal​ty​cur​ricu​lum​.org. See also Educational Curricula and Student Resources.

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