Robert Latimer Case Research Paper

For your final paper, you are going to be researching and writing on the Robert
Latimer case.
– Robert Latimer was a Saskatchewan wheat farmer who in 1993 was charged with murdering his 12 year old disabled daughter Tracey.
– His trial for murder would become one of Canada’s most popular trials.
– In your paper, you are to identify and critically discuss the symbolic issues of this case that engaged the public’s sense of morality.
– The Latimer case was a site and an occasion for the dramatization of social norms. Discuss this.
– As we have seen in this course, often there are “competing” or adversarial norms in conflict in a popular trial.
Insofar as the trial will have legal issues at stake, the popular trial has other social concerns that are in public contest. Discuss
this.
– Lastly, as we have seen, the popular trial is a forum of social spectacle, it is a site of ideological contestation.
Media plays an important part in this contest as they disseminate or broadcast particular aspects of the trial or of the controversies
surrounding the trial. Discuss this in your paper.

PLEASE NOTE:
– All papers MUST include a thesis statement.
– Papers should be between 8-10 pages (excluding works cited section).
– While papers shorter than 8 pages will not be penalized, we will not accept any paper longer than 10 pages (excluding works cited).
– You must use at least FIVE scholarly sources. These sources can include course readings. (syallbus attached for course readings)
– You must use at least two newspaper articles.
(Please note, however, that they will not be counted as part of the five required scholarly sources.)
– Please use either APA or MLA referencing style.
– Papers should be original to this course.
– Papers will be submitted via Turnitin.

The criteria for the evaluation of your major papers will be as follows:
1. Research
– Papers are judged as outstanding, thorough, not quite thorough, as making a mere attempt to consider sources, or as having no serious research effort.
2. Organization
– Papers are judged as well organized, moderately disorganized, having substantial disorganization, or as incoherently organized.
3. Analysis
– Papers are judged as excellent, very good, average, weak, or poor.
4. Writing strength
– Papers are judged as excellent, very good, average, or weak.

Side Note to Consider when Writing this Paper:
– In democratic societies, the public trial is a pillar of the democratic principle of
“transparency.” Although most trials are public, only some become “popular.” Reasons for
their ‘popularity’ are varied, but generally we have argued in the course that popular trials
engage the public’s sense of morality and/or imagination. What engages is not simply the legal
issues of a case, but the deeper symbolic or ideological issues that permeate, and are often
positioned adversarially in, a popular trial.
– I have attached two course readings on Latimer you can use for one of the 5 required readings.
– I have also attached the course powerpoint on Latimer. You can use it for reference.

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