Civics_Ch9_info

=**The Citizen in Society Background Information**=

**Citizenship and the Family:**
The family remains the backbone of American life and culture. During colonial times, most families lived on farms and tended to be larger since families needed many hands to do all of the work required on a farm. New inventions and improved methods of production after the U.S. Civil War led to a rise of factories, which caused a shift from rural to urban living as people were needed to run the machines. As a result, families moved to areas seeking factory jobs and cities began to grow around America during this time period known as the Industrial Revolution. A __//NOTE//__: more recent change in marriage trends in more recent times has been delayed marriages, or marrying at an older age due to more young adults aiming for a career. Since the 1970s, there has been a breakdown of the traditional family. Divorce rates have increased as well as the number of __//NOTE//__: blended families, or step-families. Also, since the 1970s, there has been an increase in __//NOTE//__: two-income families, or families in which both parents work. One of the contributing factors (reasons) for this is that both men and women often pursue careers through college and with double the income, couples are purchasing more items and more expensive houses that require both parents to work.

__//NOTE//__: Family law regulates marriage, divorce, and the responsibility and the rights of adults and children within a family. Most state require people to be 18 to marry (or 16 with parental consent), require a marriage license, require a medical examination (PA no longer requires this), and must be performed by either a civil (justice of the people) or religious (priest or pastor) official. Laws also protect children. There are laws against __//NOTE//__: child abuse, which is emotional abuse, physical injury, or sexual abuse inflicted on a child by another person. If this is taking place in a home, counties have programs called Children and Youth that go into the home and remove children in harmful situations. A child could be placed in a __//NOTE//__: foster home, or home of people unrelated to the child who agree to take care of the child. The new legal guardian in the foster home is appointed by a state court to care for the child. Sometimes, the child is __//NOTE//__: adopted or the child legally become the guardian's own. Sometimes, marriages fail and legally end in what is called divorce.

Families are very important to the nation and serve the nation in key ways. __//NOTE//__: Families shape the nation's future, educate family members, teaching good behavior, and helping to manage money. Disagreements are a part of family and using self-restraint and considering other peoples' points of views can help prevent serious conflict within families. Families often use a budget, or a plan of using money to maintain the family's finances. Many times, money problems are a source of conflict within families. Having a budget or making sure not to spend more than is brought in helps to keep financial stability in the family and prevents a lot of conflict. Families help prepare future adults to be good citizens by going to church as a family and modeling civic responsibility.

**Citizenship in School:**
The U.S. public school system was developed in the 1800s in order to educate all Americans. __//NOTE//__: British philosopher Sir Francis Bacon once said "knowledge is power." Most agree since education is necessary to be successful. In addition, most would agree that everyone should have the same opportunities to learn and succeed. One of the purposes of education is to teach young people how to use their skills to help the others and the nation. All Americans are blessed with skills and potential and it is up to each of us to put those skills and our potential to positive use in the U.S. The educational ladder begins with preschool where children learn the alphabet and how to cooperate with teachers and each other. In kindergarten, children are prepared by teaching basic academic skills. Elementary school teaches reading, writing, and math building blocks. Middle school prepares students for the final level by adding more concepts to the skills taught in elementary school. High school offers academics to prepare for college or vocational for specific trades or professions. Many jobs require more education and training than you can receive in high school especially in today's society. Therefore, post-high school education is necessary. There are numerous values to education in America. __//NOTE//__: LIST VALUES OF EDUCATION: America offers free education, equal schooling that is open to everyone, gives school control to local school boards to make sure local needs are met, there are attendance requirements, provides an enriching environment, and offers instruction to everyone. There are challenges that schools face that includes paying for education and the necessities, hiring and keeping good teachers, reforming the school system to make improvements, improving student performance, and violence in some districts.

Each student should have the goal of earning the best education as possible in order to earn success. Some __//NOTE//__: tips for success in school are to study at home, know your textbook and materials, participate, and review your work each day. There are several goals of education in the U.S. The __//NOTE//__: goals of our education system are to learn basic skills (read, write, compute, and communicate), learn to work with others, build good health habits, train for your life's work, become an active citizen, develop considerate behavior, and use time wisely. Schools also offer extracurricular activities, which are groups, teams, and events that your school sponsors outside of the classroom.

It's also important to develop your life's skills in school. Learning is an experience or observation of or participating in events. One way a person learns is by using their five senses. Another way of learning is conditioning or repeating actions from experience and that it becomes a habit, which is an action being done automatically without thinking about it. __//NOTE//__: It's important to not form a bad habit since it becomes something done automatically without thinking about it. Imitation or copying other people is another way to learn as well as observing what a person is doing. In all, motivation, or internal drive to achieve your goals, is also necessary to learn. There are also various types of thinking that are part of the learning process. Insight is thinking that seems to come from your heart more than your mind. Creativity is the ability to find new ways to think about or do things. __//NOTE//__: Critical thinking involves defining the issues, distinguishing between fact and opinion, weighing the evidence, and reaching a conclusion.

**Citizenship in the Community:**
There are various types of communities in the U.S. __//NOTE//__: A community is a group of people who have common interests and live in the same area with three factors - resources (natural raw materials), climate (weather), and convenience in terms of transportation. For early settlers, one of the most vital resources was the land itself since fertile soil helped farming prosper. Early settlers settled along the eastern shore and the best seaports became large cities that benefited from overseas trade (Philadelphia was one). Communities also sprung up at crossroads where two roads meet. A rural area is one with farms and small towns and urban areas are big cities and suburbs.

Communities have various purposes. __//NOTE//__: Communities teach basic values including respect for laws. Communication is key in communities. Communication is passing along information, ideas, and beliefs from one person to another. Communication is necessary within a community to keep law and order. __//NOTE//__: Communities also provide services such as safety, education, public utilities, and recreation. Safety is a service provided by communities that includes police and fire protection. Education in America is unique since it maintains local control. Public utilities include services such as water, gas, and electricity. Recreation provides amusement and relaxation for communities.

Communities also have success because citizens serve communities. There are several ways to help your community. Communities depend on the cooperation of their members to make them work. Some citizenship standards are compulsory, or required by law. Furthermore, communities also rely on people to respect the rights of others because it is the right thing to do. In addition, communities also rely on volunteers since the government doesn't know all the needs of its citizens.

**Citizenship and the Law:**
Crime is a major area in the United States that is addressed in the nation's and state's law codes. __//NOTE//__: A crime is any act that breaks the law for which there is punishment and the person who commits a crime is a criminal. Serious crimes, such as murder and kidnapping are felonies and less serious crimes such as traffic violations and disturbing the peace are charged as misdemeanors. __//NOTE//__: Overall, a felony is more serious and carries a prison sentence of over a year and/or over $1,000 fine and a misdemeanor is less serious with less than a year in jail and/or less than a fine of $1,000. There are five main categories of crimes. __//NOTE//__: Crimes against persons are acts that harm a person such as homicide (murder), rape, and assault. __//NOTE//__: Crimes against property includes stealing, burglary, and vandalism. __//NOTE//__: Victimless crimes is when the criminal commits a crime but doesn't violate someone else's rights such as using illegal drugs or drinking and driving. __//NOTE//__: White collar crimes include copyright violations, embezzlement (theft of money entrusted to the person stealing), and cybercrimes. Organized crime is when groups specialize in providing illegal goods and services. There are several causes for crimes. __//NOTE//__: One of the major causes of crimes is illegal drugs. In communities where there is a heavy use of drugs, those who use the drugs often steal to get more money to buy more drugs, since citizens hooked on drugs don't hold a steady job to earn money legally. Communities look to fight crime and one way is to increase the number of police officers and expand the prison system. Another way is to provide tougher legal penalties for criminals.

The criminal justice system is a three part system consisting of the police, the courts, and corrections (prison system) that are all used to keep the peace and bring criminals to justice. __//NOTE//__: The duties of police are to protect life and property, prevent crime, and arrest people who violate the law. When police are looking at a suspect, they are looking at probable cause, which means that the officer must have witnessed the crime or must have gathered enough evidence to make an arrest, but if no one saw the suspect commit the crime, an arrest warrant may be necessary, which is an authorization by the court to make the arrest. __//NOTE//__: The steps of the court system are the preliminary hearing, grand jury and indictment (charging the criminal), the arraignment, plea agreement or the trial, the sentencing (punishment). In the preliminary hearing the judge must decide if there's enough evidence to send the case to trial. The grand jury decides if the case should even go to trial and if so an indictment is a formal charge of the crime. The arraignment is when the defendant enters a plea. A plea bargain is when the defendant may plead guilty to a lesser offense than the original charge. The trial is where testimony is heard, defendant is innocent until proven guilty, if there is a reasonable doubt of guilty, the jury must acquit or render a not guilty verdict. Sentencing means the suspect found guilty is given his or her punishment. Less serious crimes may be punishable by fines where more serious crimes are punishable by imprisonment. After serving a part of a sentence, a prisoner may be eligible for parole or early release on the condition that he or she obeys certain rules and stays out of trouble. An issue of debate in the criminal justice system is capital punishment, which is the death penalty.

Juvenile crime is also a problem in which communities try to solve. __//NOTE//__: A juvenile delinquent is a person under the age of 18 guilty of breaking the law. There are several causes of juvenile delinquency. __//NOTE//__: Causes of juvenile delinquency include poor home conditions, poor neighborhood conditions, gang membership, dropping out of school or work, peer pressure, and the biggest reason - alcohol and drugs. Poor home conditions contributes as a cause since these types of homes are where parents do not or cannot take responsibility for their children. Poor neighborhoods offer less job and educational opportunities. Dropping out of high school is more common in poor neighborhoods. It's important to understand that if you drop out of high school, you are very limited in the lines of work as a career and dropping out of high school locks the drop-out in a life of poverty. __//NOTE//__: The purpose of the juvenile court system was not to punish children but to remove them from harmful environments. Juveniles have the right to an attorney, but not a jury trial. Treatments for juveniles include foster care, juvenile corrections system, probation (period of time in which offenders are given an opportunity to show they can reform), and counseling. __//NOTE//__: You can avoid trouble by not using drugs, staying in school, having the courage to say no when friends want to do something illegal, and trying to live a full life with plenty of physical activity and interesting hobbies.

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