Scholastic Update articles from September 1992

Scholastic Update archives from September 1992

Controversy in the courtroom. (questions of moving a case to another area, representation and duties of juries)
September 4, 1992... The stunning acquittal this spring of the four Los Angeles police officers accused of brutalizing Rodney King sent shock waves not only through the nation's streets, but through its court system as well. In the wake of the decision, the debate...

Frontier justice. (law enforcement was often corrupt in 1880s)
September 4, 1992... The pioneers who tamed the Wild West left America a legacy of rugged individualism. But they also left a history of law enforcement that was often criminal. In the 1880s, a white man accused of having murdered a Chinese railroad worker was...

Good neighbors in blue. (Greensboro, North Carolina police find community support)(includes related material) (Making It Work)
September 4, 1992... One afternoon last fall, a Greensboro, North Carolina, police officer saw a drug deal go down in a public-housing project. He chased the suspect, who ran and disappeared into a maze of buildings. Then something unusual happened. A group of...

Fighting back. (advocacy of victims' rights) (Making It Work)
September 4, 1992... Marla Hanson was an up-and-coming New York City model, when, in 1986, her life changed forever. Her landlord, enraged by Hanson's refusal to date him, hired two thugs to slash the model's face with razor blades. Hanson needed 150 stitches...

Lights, camera, justice! (controversial practice of camera in courtroom) (Making It Work)
September 4, 1992... Do cameras in courtrooms debase the justice system, or show us how it really works? Last fall, the nation's TV network faced a new competitor for their popular fictional courtroom shows like L.A. Law and Civil Wars. It featured two young,...

The inside scoop on rising star Brendan Fraser.
September 4, 1992... Actor Brendan Fraser hit the big screen this summer in Encino Man. Now he's starring in a new movie, School Ties. In it, Brendan plays a jock who lands a football scholarship to an upper-crust high school in 1955. Recently, Brendan took a break...

Is justice blind? (concern over fairness of US justice system)(includes related material)
September 4, 1992... The idea of fairness and equality lies at the heart of the U.S. system of government. But does this nation live up to its ideal of providing justice for all? "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" This month, millions of students across...

On the trail of justice. (US criminal justice system)
September 4, 1992... When the Founding Fathers sat down to define our newly born nation two centuries ago, they began with these words: "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice . . ." Justice. In the U.S....

Welcome to the system. (young people give firsthand knowledge about judicial system)
September 4, 1992... What is it like to go through the justice system? Several young people with firsthand knowledge gave UPDATE their impressions. Some were crime victims, others were criminals. Both sides were awed by the system's seriousness and high stakes. But...

Go directly to jail. (some say the system is not working)
September 4, 1992... The U.S. imprisons more people than any other country. But critics say our "lock 'em up" approach to crime isn't working. Maine State Prison in Thomaston, Maine, was a time bomb waiting to explode. Built to hold 650 inmates, the aging...

Country club criminals. (double standards in law enforcement)
September 4, 1992... Does the U.S. have a double standard of justice--a lenient one for those who can afford high-priced lawyers and a tougher one for everybody else? Imagine an unemployed man coming into a bank one afternoon, pointing a gun at a teller, and...

The death penalty. (race may determine justice)(includes related material)
September 4, 1992... Black murderers are far more likely than white murderers to get the death penalty, especially if victim was white. And blacks make up 12 percent of the population, but 40 percent on death row. So is the death penalty racist? The Supreme Court...

China; the legacy of Tiananmen. (influence of 1989 massacre)(includes related articles) (Cover Story)
September 18, 1992... To understand the forces at work in China today, and where the country's headed tomorrow, one must return to the brutal government massacre of 1989. It was, as one student said, almost a revolution. By late May 1989, the protest of a few...

The middle country. (Chinese people think they live at the center of the world) (China) (Illustration)
September 18, 1992... The people of China call their country Zhongguo - "the middle country." Boasting one of the oldest civilizations in human history, the Chinese have always viewed themselves as living at the center of the world geographically and culturally. ...

"To get rich is glorious." (private enterprise allows some Chinese citizens to live well) (China)
September 18, 1992... Sun Guiqiu, a senior official in the Chinese village of Daiquizhuang (die-quiz-wong), makes only $890 a year. But his salary is nearly three times that of the average Chinese worker. Sun lives in a large four-bedroom apartment and, as part of...

A life in the revolution. (Deng Xiaoping continues to shape his country's future)(includes related material) (China)
September 18, 1992... For nearly seven weeks in the spring of 1989, the world held its breath as Chinese authorities faced down the largest pro-democracy demonstration China had ever seen. Then, on June 4, the People's Liberation Army rolled into Tiananmen Square,...

Shooting the breeze with Jenna Von Oy. (interview) (Interview)
September 18, 1992... Sometimes art mirrors life. That's certainty the case with Jenna Von Oy, the 15-year-old actress who plays Six LeMuere, Mayim Bialik's ace-boon-coon, on NBC's Blossom. Like the ever-chatty Six, Jenna is never at a loss for words. When we met,...

Waiting for doomsday. (Hong Kong's reunification with China)
September 18, 1992... Hong Kong a bustling symbol of capitalism, faces an uncertain future under Chinese rule. With its gleaming skyscrapers and humming factories, Hong Kong has long symbolized the glories of international capitalism. The tiny strip of land on...

China: a favored nation? (US attitudes towards China)(includes related material)
September 18, 1992... Should the U.S. use trade sanctions to protest Chinese human rights abuses? When Chinese troops brutally crushed the pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989, reaction in the U.S. was swift and angry. President Bush, Congress,...

There's no prom in China. (lifestyle of high school students)
September 18, 1992... Only one in 10 Chinese teenagers graduates from high school. For those who stay in school, life is no party - unless it's the Communist Party BEIJING, China - dancing is forbidden most of the year at Beijing People's University Attached...

Wives for sale. (Chinese women suffer low status)(includes related article)
September 18, 1992... Each year, thousands of Chinese women are sold into virtual slavery to men looking for mates. Here is one woman's story. GUBEIKOU, China - in this poor mountain village on the outskirts of Beijing, Ma Linmei is a virtual prisoner. She is...

Land of discovery. (Chinese contributions to world culture) (China)
September 18, 1992... From paper to playing cards, the list of Chinese contributions to world culture and development is staggering. Seventeenth-century British philosopher Francis Bacon once argued that three inventions had done more to propel the world into...

Hard life in a new home. (adjusting to life in the United States)
September 18, 1992... As a 16-year-old immigrant, Yanni Zhou found that adjusting to America - even in the supportive confines of Chinatown - was a tough, daily struggle. Scanning the tray of unrecognizable Western food the flight attendant had just set before...