Walden University Criminal Law Definitions Discussion

The purpose of the definitionsassignment is to move students beyond mere familiarity with legalterminology, to understanding what the terms mean. There are two partsto the assignment:

(1) Students must give a definition or rule of law for each term. Thedefinition need not be in a student’s own words. Any reliable legalsource may be used, such as Black’s Law Dictionary, Clancey’s Outlaw,commercial law outlines, etc. so long as the definition is correct,concise, and includes all necessary elements. We do not recommendWikipedia, websites containing other law students’ work, or similarsources, as the information may not be accurate.

(2) In their own words students must provide either 1) a short hypotheticalwhich shows understanding of the term by illustrating or providing anexample of its usage, or 2) a further explanation of detailedinformation concerning the term. It is not sufficient to simply restatethe rule provided in part one in one’s own words — an illustration oradditional information that demonstrates an understanding of the term orrule must be included.