Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
- Find the step in the story where the problem is. She was arrested, and then she was questioned. The trouble is in the questioning.
- What was done wrong? She was pressed to give answers that could help convict her. Giving evidence of your own guilt is called self-incrimination.
- The Fifth Amendment says no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” (Compelled means forced.)
- Miranda v. Arizona protects this same right: before police question a person in custody, they must tell the person of the right to remain silent. So this is the Fifth Amendment.
Answer: The Fifth Amendment
Example 2
- Find the step in the story. The trial is over. The problem is the sentence, the punishment.
- Ask whether the punishment fits the crime. Forty years for stealing two pairs of sneakers is far out of proportion to the offense.
- The Eighth Amendment forbids “cruel and unusual punishments.” Chapter 7 says this includes a punishment that is grossly out of proportion to the crime.
- The search, the questioning, and the trial are not what is being challenged. Punishment belongs to the Eighth Amendment.
Answer: The Eighth Amendment
Where this is taught: Civics, Chapter 7: The Fourth Amendment · Civics, Chapter 7: The Fifth Amendment · Civics, Chapter 7: The Sixth Amendment · Civics, Chapter 7: The Eighth Amendment
In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 3, Lesson 2: Constitutional Government · Map of the Terrain, topic 22: Amendments 2 to 10
The drill
Ten questions
Read each question, and any reading or table in its box. Then tap your answer; a few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Press Check my answers at the bottom.Read each question, and any reading or table in its box. Circle your answer; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.