This article is drawn from the authors' book, "Judging for Themselves: Using Mock Trials to Bring Social Studies and English to Life," which discusses the effectiveness of mock trials as tools for learning and assessments. Mock trials are effective because they are challenging, authentic projects in which students create and then do…

Maritime piracy has increasingly been in the news, and in the courtroom, in recent years. This article presents an interview with international legal and overseas piracy expert Douglas Guilfoyle. In this interview, Guilfoyle discusses why piracy is a growing problem and some of the challenges it creates for the international community. He also…

Arguing that there is no better opportunity to teach about the law than when a sensational trial overwhelms the media, this booklet outlines the legal issues involved in the O. J. Simpson trial and presents teaching methods for introducing these issues to students. In a discussion of the trial phase, the booklet explains the concepts of reasonable…

Presents a curriculum program designed to dramatize the trial experience. Utilizes the fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood" to present the facts of a criminal case. Outlines the mock trial, rules of evidence, criminal code, and facts of the case. Suggests that classroom experience be enhanced with field trips to a real court. (DK)

This document presents three articles on law-related education (LRE) written either by or for students. Brent Halling, a senior at Castle High School in Newburgh, Indiana, opens the collection with an article on how due process protects rights. Halling explains the concept of due process and illustrates its reach through the case of Kenneth…

This article describes the law-related education (LRE) programs instituted by the United States Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). By linking legal and constitutional matters to everyday life, the programs aim to bring alive for elementary through high school students legal statutes that often…

Prepared by the District of Columbia Street Law Project for its annual city-wide mock trial competition, this instructional handout provides material for a murder trial. The defendant shot the victim in the course of a violent dispute. The prosecution charges murder while the defendant claims to have acted in self-defense. The handout clarifies…

Prepared by the District of Columbia Street Law Project for its 21 annual city-wide mock trial competition, this instructional handout provides material for a mock rape trial. David Jones and Susan Williams, both students at Capital University, had dated on and off during the previous years and on the night of the incident had attended a party…

Describes in some detail the modern French judicial system, including the personnel involved; the structure of civil, criminal, and public law; and penal procedure. Modern criticism of this system is discussed. (AM)

This paper is a chronologically-organized narrative history of law-related education (LRE) in the United States. The paper begins by delineating the differences between LRE and citizenship education and describing the motivations for the creation of LRE programs in the early 1960s. Turning to the analysis of LRE, the paper argues that there have…

Prepared by the District of Columbia Street Law Project for its 17th annual city-wide mock trial competition, this instructional handout provides the material for a mock criminal trial. The federal government charges Martha Monroe with first degree murder for shooting her husband, George Monroe, while he slept. Martha Monroe asserts that she acted…

Describes the content and methodology of elective courses which expand Soviet student's understanding of the Soviet state and the courts, the structure of power, and the basic rights and duties of the citizen. Courses in labor law, love and family law, criminal law, and constitutional law expand the current social studies curriculum. (KC)

Designed for teachers, this simulation of a criminal trial addresses the workings of the trial system by using the children's story, "The Three Little Pigs." The Big Bad Wolf is put on trial for destroying the pigs' houses. By having students assume roles and use the non-scripted character profiles, the simulation allows information to…

Prepared by the District of Columbia Street Law Project for its 16th annual city-wide mock trial competition, this instructional handout provides the material for a mock civil trial in which Dana Barr, a former corrections officer, brings suit against the Lorton Medium Security Facility for firing him on the basis of his status as Human…

Popular education is "political education for everyday people." It is"people coming together to discuss problems of injustice and inequality and learning how to confront these problems collectively." To be effective in movement building, this guide calls for people who can act in concert to fundamentally change the world. It…