"Rough Justice"

The subtitle of the news article by Alejandro Reyes is "a caning in Singapore stirs up a fierce debate about crime and punishment." Judge for yourself with this list of words focused on law and order.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 10 Unit 2's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Where I'm From, Funny in Farsi, Kaffir Boy, Pick One, If You Are What You Eat, Persepolis, poems about parents, Hunger of Memory, Thanksgiving: A Personal History, Time to Assert American Values, Rough Justice, On Civil Disobedience, On Surrender at Bear Paw Mountain, On Women's Right to Vote, Declaration of the Rights of the Child, School's Out for Summer, One Word of Truth, Hope, Despair, and Memory
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. mandate
    make obligatory
    Enacted a year after the republic left the Malaysian Federation, the law explicitly mandates between three and eight strokes of the cane for each count.
  2. provision
    a stipulated condition
    a provision allows first offenders to escape caning "if the writing, drawing, mark or inscription is done with pencil, crayon, chalk or other delible substances and not with paint, tar or other indelible substances..."
  3. condone
    excuse, overlook, or make allowances for
    We simply do not understand how the government can condone the permanent scarring of any 18-year-old boy--American or Singaporean--by caning for such an offense.
  4. severe
    very harsh or strict, especially when dealing with others
    The U.S. government, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. media took the opportunity to ridicule us, saying the sentence was too severe
  5. chaos
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    That's why the whole country is in chaos: drugs, violence, unemployment and homelessness.
  6. preventive
    tending to hinder
    Preventive detention laws allow authorities to lock up suspected criminals without trial.
  7. prescribe
    issue commands or orders for
    While caning is mandatory in cases of vandalism, rape and weapons offenses, it is also prescribed for immigration violations such as overstaying visas and hiring of illegal workers.
  8. dichotomy
    a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses
    If there is a single fundamental difference between the Western and Asian worldview, it is the dichotomy between individual freedom and collective welfare
  9. inflict
    impose something unpleasant
    But an Asian perspective may well be that it is better that an innocent person be convicted if the common welfare is protected than for a guilty person to be free to inflict further harm on the community.
  10. presumption
    a premise that is taken for granted
    We would rather convict even if it doesn't accord with the purist's traditions of the presumption of innocence.
  11. virtue
    any admirable quality or attribute
    Toughness is considered a virtue here
  12. salvation
    rescuing or protecting someone or something from harm
    Yet harsh punishments alone are clearly not the salvation of Singapore society.
  13. cohesive
    combining well to form a unified whole
    The predominantly Chinese city-state also has a cohesive value system that emphasizes such Confucian virtues as respect for authority.
  14. Draconian
    imposing a harsh code of laws
    That "sense of shame," Woon reckons, is more powerful than draconian laws.
  15. effective
    producing or capable of producing an intended result
    The law has to be enforced effectively and fairly.
Created on Mon Oct 13 09:24:45 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Oct 13 15:06:24 EDT 2014)

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