You are the governor of your state. A man has been sentenced to die for first degree murder, but you've been asked to commute the sentence. What do you do? Scholars consider the difficult question using a conversation starter video that features a dramatic reenactment of the scenario. 

Concepts

constitutional amendments, the death penalty

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Show the video to stimulate discussion on the Eighth Amendment and death penalty 

Classroom Considerations

• Part of a series of videos from the Exploring the Constitution series
  
• Material in the video may not be suitable for all classes

Pros

• Dramatization offers a balance of views about the death penalty
• Included discussion questions make using the video easy

Cons

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.2 RH.6-8.10 RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.2 RH.9-10.10 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.2 RH.11-12.10