Focusing on interactions with the criminal justice system can promote high school students’ interest in civics education.

Recent years have seen growing concern over the apparent lack of civic knowledge and participation in the US, with education seen as one potential means to address this civics gap. But how can educators encourage greater interest in civics among students? In new research which examines the effects of a course which addressed inner-city students’ constitutional rights, Lynn A. Addington finds that students’ regular contact with the criminal justice system, and schools’ own security programs, motivated them to learn more about their own rights.