I’m working on a law discussion question and need an explanation to help me understand better.

Up to 1 page; 12 font double spaced. APA format.

Write a short paragraph describing the sociolegal phenomenon/cast study you will be exploring.

1.) What are you going to be writing about? * a specific court case *Current events * personal sociolegal experience

Describe what your topic is (who, what, where, when, how) 2-3 sentences.

2.) Write a thesis statement — What are you going to say about this sociolegal phenomenon/case study through your analysis? It doesn’t have to be something that is “provable,” but can be as simple as “This paper will trace the legal consciousness of immigrants as they navigate xyz system.” OR “This court case exemplifies how the violence of the law is often in the form of slow and enduring structural oppression rather than immediate punishment.” 2-3 sentences.

If you are having trouble coming up with a thesis statement — you can 1.) trace the legal consciousness of the various actors (people in their social and political roles) in your case study and discuss how these various orientations to the law interact, 2.) explain how this case study demonstrates the indeterminacy of the law, law enforcement, and legal practice and how that indeterminacy works to perpetuate inequality OR 3.) demonstrate the conflicts of legal pluralism that arise within your case study where multiple forces of legal jurisdiction, belief systems and codes of conduct exist at once.

3.) Choose 4 terms from our glossary that you will be using in your final paper.

These terms should be ones that can help you analyze your situation. This requires being thoughtful about your topic and how you may analyze it. I think “legal consciousness — a person or group’s complex relationship to the law based on their lived-experiences” is a term that all of your papers may use. These terms should make sense given your topic and thesis.

4.) List AT LEAST 4 citations from our class syllabus

These will be the texts that help you build your analysis. Obviously, you will cite the readings from which you learned your terms, but you can use others from our syllabus too. **Please include all other citations about your topic (see #1) like a news article or the court case reference.

There must be 1-2 sources from outside of class that help develop your essay topic/context.