Essays Free Speech, Juvenile Justice, Military Service

In Derek Bok’s essay Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus, Bok discusses freedom of expression as outlined in the U.S. Constitution as it applies to a recent incident at Harvard University, a private institution of higher learning. Two students displayed Confederate flags in public view. Those students upset over the display who viewed the flag as symbolic of racism and slavery, retaliated by displaying a swastika. In his essay, Bok develops the following argument: The First Amendment affords protection to free speech in public universities and colleges; Harvard is a private institution, therefore it is not afforded First Amendment protection. Even though this argument is logical and perfectly valid, Bok rejects one of its premises and concludes “I have difficulty understanding why a university such as Harvard should have less free speech than the surrounding society—or that of a public university” (44).

In making a case for censorship, Bok tries to appeal to the utilitarian concept of justice and good government. Utilitarianism argues that laws and actions should be devised so as to afford the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. In his argument for censorship of offensive displays like Confederate flags and swastikas, Bok adopts the utilitarian premise as part of his reasoning “I am sure that the vast majority of Harvard students

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nage boy has beaten up a homeless old man, shot a storekeeper, or sodomized a little girl. He may even admit the act. The question is whether his admission can be invalidated because a police officer forgot to have him initial his responses to the Miranda warnings in the proper place of whether the arresting officer had probable cause” (Kramer 116). We can see in the author’s distress that she is criticizing the juvenile justice system because of her emotion and passionate belief that it needs to change. However, the Miranda warning and probable cause are both hallowed concepts in the adult criminal justice system and are strongly supported as a means of protecting the rights of those accused of criminal activity. Without these kinds of concepts in place, danger is had more from the potential abuse of justice than from actual criminal activity. This is not to say that Kramer does not provide plenty of statistical information that is designed to show her point that the juvenile justice system is inefficient and ineffective in reducing juvenile crime: The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program in 1990 showed the highest number of arrests of youth for violent offenses…in the more than 25 years the statistics have been compiled.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Harvard University, Reporting Program, Justice Delinquent, King Jr, Crito Plato, Conclusion Bok, Service System, King Creon, Premise Military, Thebes Unhappy, juvenile justice, justice system, juvenile justice system, king jr, forms communication, military service, luther king jr, martin luther, martin luther king, luther king, free speech, american society, author argues, offensive forms communication, displays forms communication,
Approximate Word count = 2759
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)