OJ Simpson Assignment

OJ Simpson Assignment Instructions

Students will be required to apply their knowledge and understanding of course concepts to the OJ Simpson case. Students will use this case to analyze the conflicts and relationships among attorneys, law enforcement officers, and forensic scientists in the criminal and civil trials of OJ Simpson using the information and materials from the course.

1. Students should first read through the case history found on the following websites:
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/simpson.htm
http://www.cnn.com/US/OJ/

2. For each witness, both prosecution and defense, read through the transcripts. Fill out the top portion of each sheet with the required information. Transcripts can be found at the following website:
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/Simpson/transcript.html

3. Using the information from the course modules, describe how each witness plays into 2-3 of the concepts covered in class. This description should include term, definition, theories and idea regarding investigative regions, investigator roles, information control, team formation, ethnomethodology, forensic investigations, professional vision, jurisdiction of knowledge, divisions of labor, relationships between science and law, forensic experts, criminal vs. civil cases, mistakes at work, ethics, and bias.

4. After reading through all the transcripts, write a short response, about 1 paragraph, on which witness you believe was most beneficial for the prosecution and for the defense and why.

5. After reading through all the transcripts, write a short response, about 1 paragraph, on which witness you believe was most detrimental for the prosecution and for the defense and why.