Accused and Witnesses

Tell the accused and each witness to read his/her statement at least three times so that he/she will be prepared to answer questions. This could be homework. The accused should sit in "the dock" in the middle of the court - on the far side of the lawyers from the bench. Another seat should be provided at one side of the court – to mark the position of the "witness box". Normally witnesses would remain in the “witness room” until they are called to give evidence – but if that is not practicable in school they could simply sit in the public gallery until called.

It is extremely important that all the witnesses and the lawyers asking the questions can be seen and heard by the others in the class. Please make a point of asking each witness to stand (rather than sit) while giving their evidence and to speak up loudly and clearly so that everyone can see and hear what they have to say.

The Sheriff can remind them gently if need be.

Sheriff

The sheriff should read the Student Handout (Chapter 2) and review the procedure for the oath that he/she will administer to each witness. This is the Sheriff's "homework". The Sheriff should sit behind a table - which acts as "the bench" - facing out over the Court.

If questions are raised by the class during the MiniTrial the Sheriff (or some of the other lawyers present) could try to reply in the form of a mock “Note by Counsel” or a “Solicitor’s letter” – to illustrate what those sort of documents might look like. In most cases, however, a verbal response will be sufficient.

Clerk of Court

The Clerk should read the Student Handout (Chapter 2) and review the procedure for the oath that he/she will administer to the jury and for reading the indictment (statement of charges). This could be homework. The Clerk of Court sits in front of the Sheriff (or if that is not practicable beside the Sheriff for MiniTrial) - also facing out over the Court. The Clerk should also be familiar with the trial timetable. The Clerk should be asked to monitor the times of the various stages of the trial and be able to indicate to the Sheriff when they should be drawing each stage to a halt. A “timer” or stopwatch can help.

It would be helpful if the Clerk of Court could bring extra copies of the indictment with them – so that they can be distributed to the jury at the start of the trials for reference. The jury may also wish to take notes - and pens or pencils should be available if required.

Court Officer

Tell the Court Officer to collect the Sheriff from "chambers" (the Sheriff's room / part of the classroom or corridor) and bring him or her on to the bench - saying "Court Rise" as the Sheriff enters and leaves. The Court Officer should use a loud voice – so that everyone in the room can hear. If there is a lot of noise in the room at the time it may be necessary to use a very loud voice. The Court Officer also ushers the witnesses to and from the witness box when they are called to give evidence.

Reporters / Media representatives

Tell the reporters that they can sit in court. They are to prepare a very short newspaper article based on what happens at the trial.

Jurors

The jurors in MiniTrial are chosen from the remaining students. They should imagine that they have all been cited to attend court for jury service (to act as jurors) and that they have been selected for jury service - by Clerk of Court. When the Clerk of Court asks the jurors to take their places in "the jury box" – the jurors should make their way to the jury box / seats on the other side of the court from the witness box. There are some "Jury Observation Sheets" with the case papers (in Chapter 3 below) which the jurors may wish to look at as homework. Such sheets are not normally issued to jurors, but they may aid discussion in MiniTrials.

Reporters / Members of the Public

The remaining students who are not on the jury - can be reporters / media representatives who are asked to prepare a short news report of the trial.

If there are other pupils present who would prefer not to take any active part they can be members of the public or relatives.

Preferably each student should have a task to complete and no-one should feel left out.

9.For the purposes of MiniTrial, a simplified procedure is used for jury selection. The Clerk of Court simply asks the jurors to take their seats in the jury box. In most cases, the teacher can simply prepare a list of jurors in advance. If need be the Clerk of Court can call out their names as a reminder. Actual pieces of paper in a ballot box or glass are not required and there is no right to challenge the jurors selected in a MiniTrial. For the purposes of MiniTrial, the number of jurors can be increased to over 15 to include more students (or all of them) if need be – or the number can be reduced below 15 to suit the class size. An odd number is best.

10. The trial begins with the calling of the first witness by the prosecution. This is followed by the examination of the witnesses (prosecution case first then the defence case) and then speeches to the jury (prosecution first then defence). The Sheriff gives his "charge" and the Jury retire to consider their verdict. The trial may take about an hour - but you can speed things up or slow things down to suit the time available. The simple aim of MiniTrial is to increase the students’ knowledge of courts and trials and to encourage discussion about the people and processes. Questions raised by anyone can be noted down to be asked after the trial. Please ask the Clerk of Court to monitor the times of the various stages of the trial following the suggested timetable (outlined in Chapter 2) and to indicate to those speaking when they should be drawing to a halt. A stopwatch or a kitchen timer can help to keep track of the times - and give an audible indication of when to stop.

11.The judge should "charge" the jury at the end of the trial using the jury instructions contained in each set of case papers. The charge can be kept short – but it is probably helpful to include the essentials as many people may not know what they are. The jury should require only a few minutes to reach a verdict. After they have announced the verdict, you could ask the jurors to explain how they reached their decision.

12.Ask the mediarepresentatives what kind of story they would have written. What was most newsworthy about the trial? What would grab the reader’s attention? Did they agree with the jury’s decision? Who gave the strongest testimony? If time is running out, this step can be done while the jury is deliberating.

13.Once a verdict has been returned, you may wish to debrief the trial. Encourage all students to participate in the discussion of the trial.

Questions that might help discussion include:

Q.What were the strong and weak points of each side?

Q.What additional information would have been helpful?

Q.Who was the most believable witness? Why?

Q.Did any of the students change their minds during the trial? When and why?

Q.Are there other ways that the problem could have been dealt with? What would have been the advantages or disadvantages?

Q. Was the formal court language and procedure helpful? How could it be improved?

Q.In some countries, a trial starts with opening speeches rather than just reading the indictment. Would opening speeches have been an improvement?

Q.Do you think the accused should have been in custody or on bail prior to the trial? Why?

Q. What, if anything, did you find confusing or hard to follow.

14.Please send some feedbackto Sandy Wylie (see details on last page).

All comments and criticisms welcome. For example: -

1. What did you enjoy about the MiniTrial?

2. What did you learn from the MiniTrial?

3. What did you not enjoy about the MiniTrial?

4. What would you like to change about the MiniTrial?

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 577