Legal and Illegal Acts
Javier Barcenas
CJ 102 Unit 1
Writing assignment 1
I have found that a vast majority of the students I asked “if you had the power to make an act that is now illegal into a legal act what would that act be?” and the versa “what legal act would you make illegal?” All their answers revolved either around drugs or subjects like the death penalty, abortion. In this paper I will further discuss my finding on the responses I received from both questions. When I had students first address the question of “which illegal act would they make legal?” Almost all of them wanted to legalize the selling and use of marijuana to those of 18 years of age or older. This isn’t a surprise due to the fact that we live in California and the majority of the population has some sort of familiarity with the drug whether they are users themselves or they know someone who is a user. They also argued the fact that they could place a tax on the drug to somehow stimulate California’s revenue. I wouldn’t know if that would hold strong with the federal government…. At any rate the other act they would legalize or change was the “drinking age” they either chose to get rid of the age restriction all together or to at least lower it to the age of 18. They argued that it’s the most unfair restriction that exists today because at the age of 18. One is allowed to vote, serve in the military, able to buy tobacco products, and legally allowed to quote on quote “make a porno” said one student. So they felt it was the first thing if they had the power to change.
Now, when I asked “which legal act would you make illegal if you had the power to do so?” they all mentioned the Death penalty and abortion. Those who spoke of the death penalty all wanted to make it illegal because they argued the possibility of killing a innocent man or they argued that it would lower us as human beings and no better than the criminals themselves. And I see the validity in their argument; I can understand why they
CJ 102 Unit 1
Writing assignment 1
I have found that a vast majority of the students I asked “if you had the power to make an act that is now illegal into a legal act what would that act be?” and the versa “what legal act would you make illegal?” All their answers revolved either around drugs or subjects like the death penalty, abortion. In this paper I will further discuss my finding on the responses I received from both questions. When I had students first address the question of “which illegal act would they make legal?” Almost all of them wanted to legalize the selling and use of marijuana to those of 18 years of age or older. This isn’t a surprise due to the fact that we live in California and the majority of the population has some sort of familiarity with the drug whether they are users themselves or they know someone who is a user. They also argued the fact that they could place a tax on the drug to somehow stimulate California’s revenue. I wouldn’t know if that would hold strong with the federal government…. At any rate the other act they would legalize or change was the “drinking age” they either chose to get rid of the age restriction all together or to at least lower it to the age of 18. They argued that it’s the most unfair restriction that exists today because at the age of 18. One is allowed to vote, serve in the military, able to buy tobacco products, and legally allowed to quote on quote “make a porno” said one student. So they felt it was the first thing if they had the power to change.
Now, when I asked “which legal act would you make illegal if you had the power to do so?” they all mentioned the Death penalty and abortion. Those who spoke of the death penalty all wanted to make it illegal because they argued the possibility of killing a innocent man or they argued that it would lower us as human beings and no better than the criminals themselves. And I see the validity in their argument; I can understand why they