They Broke the Law - You Be the Judge: True Cases of Teen Crime

by Thomas A. Jacobs, Al Desetta (Editor)

A judge provides a look at the juvenile justice system.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime, Teaching, Teen

213 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Camila Sajuan · Rating 5 out of 5]

They Broke the Law--You be the Judge: True cases of teen crime by Thomas A, Jacobs. like many stories one that stood out to me was Adams, 15 and made a threat at school, and I have to try and give him a punishment according to his baackground and his crime. Conflict he faces was threating the school, I think he overcomes this by doing better in school and dealing with the cosequences and trying to become better. Out of all the book I think Adam was my favorite, the book made me feel good because it was super intersting and although this book is based off real life people it made me becolme more open minded with these type of situations. Me personally I love true crime and althought these arent harsh crimes I still love it because I goit to decide on the ounsihment and it made me feel like a real life judge for a bit. I woul;d recommen d this book to anyone who has interest in crime, maybe kids my age as well.

[☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ ѕℓιм ☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn't used for this class, I am not sure why it was required at all. But I liked this book. And how it talked about the crimes and cases of different teenagers. I kept this book in the section where the books like romance, crime, etc are located in my house. I didn't want to put it near all of my college books. Because I thought this book was a bit more interesting than the others, and I wanted to learn and read more on the cases of these teenagers.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judge Thomas Jacobs writes about preteens and teens who have committed different offenses and landed before him. He gives background informant on each child, age, home life, previous run ins, if any, siblings, financial stability. Then he tells you how the crime happened, asks what you you think should happen. He follows up with what he did, why he did it. Usually there is a letter from the child, and a follow up letting you know how the child turned up. It was a very interesting book.

[Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time faves.

[Myrtle · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I was in a class that used this book, then maybe it would appeal more but not really for me. Also, some of it like the letters definitelyyyy seemed made up.

[Lorena Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book "They Broke The Law You Be The Judge"
It is actaually an intresting Book because your actually knowin TRUE teen crimes and what they did. But what I like most about this book is that it not only tells you what they did but how they felt during probation and it shows a actaull letter they wrote to the judge about sending them home.. And then after they go to jail but some fo home it writes about how their live changed or if they kept doing crimes
To me it is a fasnating book i relly enjoyed it and i read it again!
But the secound time wasent boring but i alredy knew what was gonna happen ! =)
Its a fasanating book with non stop action and wired expections
Akid 7years old treatning his mom ??
What I dint Like was how the author dint inclufe how they changes like if their relationship change after going to probation what I mean is that in the book it has a crime of a boy treatnig a mom but it dosent mention after words is he still mad at the mom what happens??
You can find it in the non-fiction bins !

[Christine Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nonfiction
Grades Eight- Twelve
Summary:
These are real cases of teen crimes that came through Judge Thomas Jacobs' courtroom.
Evaluation:
This is an introduction to the juvenile system. Teen are mostly scared when entering the court but on the end find themselves also sorry.There were twenty-one cases of teens being charged with crimes such as robbing people, breaking into houses, car thief, drug possession and a host of others. The judge listed the cases and went through each one giving the sentencing he felt best in solving the case. This was a good overview of things a teenager can do to get into trouble with the law. This judge seem to be caring but he has to pick his sentences from a list. The title and front book cover will catch your attention. Student may not have being in the system but they are aware of others. I see the book as a source of information, entertainment or maybe a warning.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is listed as a choice for reluctant readers. I can definitely see why. Besides the obvious appeal of teen delinquency, this book has a very interactive lay out. There are insets, handwritten letters, graphics etc., that would help hold a reluctant or unskilled reader's attention. The book portrays real cases of teen crime, and the punishments these teens received from the judge/author. The best part is, the book has a lot of critical thinking questions for students to consider. These questions help students recognize actions and their consequences, predict outcomes, make inferences, justify their own moral reasoning, and it even allows for role play! I think it is a great tool to engage a single student or a class. If they can do these things with real situations, they can learn to apply the same skills academically to books for class!

[Amy Diop · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought True Cases of Teen Crime was really interesting. It was so astonishing to think that these kids who are my age are getting in to lots of trouble out of serious crimes for example getting caught with marijuana, crystal meth, cocaine, assaulting their parents, stealing things with an expensive value, hiding pipe bombs, threatening to murder a whole school, burglary, selling drugs, getting caught with a gun and drinking under age. It is kind of crazy to think how kids my age could do all these crazy things when they are so young. Some of these kids who committed these crimes just made a silly mistake and learned their lesson from consequences. Most of the kids though continued to do these horrible things after they completed their consequences time. Which caused them to suffer longer.

[Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book focuses on teen crimes and how judges can try to intervene so they can turn their life around. Done with great group discussion questions, this book would be a great book to read as a group. The author does a great job of giving the reader plenty of information about the teen, so the reader can make their own decisions on how best to rule in the teens case. An interesting side to this book is that it actually covers real cases, so the author gives us information on why he made those rulings and if they worked or not in helping the teen turn themselves around. A great book for anyone interested in juvenile crime or casework. This book does not read as a typical boring non-fiction, but rather would be good for reluctant teen readers.

[stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is kind of genius. really. i have a feeling this is going to totally engage my kids. the concept is great: real, true stories of kids who have faced sentencing.

you get the background on the kid, you get the law, you get the options of sentencing, and all the stuff that is necessary for actual judge to sentence someone. and then there's what the judge actually decided, and the outcome - how the kids were years after.

it's totally awesome. really. and for my kids, who at 12, can recite all the reasons you want to get in the juvenile system, this is possibly what i can get them totally engaged in.

i LOVE this book.

[Mark Flowers · Rating 2 out of 5]

A juvenile court judge offers the true life stories of 21 teens seen by him in his court in this interactive book, which asks readers to participate in the process of sifting through evidence to try to find an appropriate sentence for each offender. Unexamined is the concept that some teens who come before a juvenile court judge may actually be innocent.

[712 samg]

at first i thought that this book would suck but it was turned out to be ok because of the way it had some interesting stries of teen crime. the one thing I did not like about this book was that it asked you what you would have done, and i always felt very uneasy and unsure so i always skipped that part, which made the book considerably better

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I completely loved this book. It told of true teen crimes,the before,after,and an update of the teens.It made me feel like i was actually a judge,like i could make the actual decision. It was just AMAZING.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't too fond of this book. I thought it would be really interesting--I'd get to read about juvenile court cases, decide whether I thought they got what they deserved or not. But it was actually quite boring. All the stories started to sound the same very soon on.

[Jonathan711 barrezueta · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far i cannot believe that all those kids broke the law. i never want to do what those kids did because now i know what could happen to me like go to jail.

[Zhane · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a very good book it teaches you about being a judge and a lawyer

[Joseph Azor · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this i like how the author is descriptive in case my most like case is Adam case i think u should publish another or similar book like this.

[Justice Rosario · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to a friend because this book was really good.I think they would like it because this book makes u wonder why, this book makes u wan't to read more and more.