Murder case comes to FC

The civics class offers realistic trial in the classroom. An authentic mock trial will be going on in classrooms, teaching students how the judicial system in America works.

The mock trial was started in 1980 by the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF). Mock trial is an imitation of a real trial. The program was created to help students learn more about the American judicial system. There are currently 36 counties in California that offers this program in their history class.

Teachers who are in charge of the trial gets to decide the theme of them. Common cases for high school trial are murder and robbery. In all trials, teachers either assign the role to students or let them decide for themselves.

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Each case comes with different roles, and each role is unique in its own way. Victim, defendant, defense counsel, witness, jury, judge, and court officers are some of the roles students can take part in. Victims and defendants will take turns and share information to the court judge and audience. The jury’s role is to listen to arguments, consider evidence and decide which side they are on. Witness’ job is to explain what they saw and give their testimony.

Civics teacher Robert Foshee wants his students to understand and dissect the importance of a real trial.

“Hands-on project learning is way to learn a subject in a fun way and understand the many complex topics,” Foshee said. “By having a mock trial, students can learn about the court system while interacting with it. The key thing I want students to take away from this is our complex court system and the need for good jury.”

After during the mock trial for 10 years, Foshee decides on the case and let students chose their role.

“This years case is a murder trial, on a college campus,” Foshee said. “Students will get the opportunity to chose their role for this case.”

Senior Damien Boyce is excited to participate in next week’s mock trial. He sees this as a oppurtunity to learn and become more familiar with the government in America. He thinks it will be a fun activity

“I’m excited to participate in the mock trial,” Boyce said. “I think it is going to awesome learning how our judicial system operates during a murder. We see stuff like this on tv but actually being a part of it will be way cooler.”

Seniors who are taking the class will have the opportunity to participate in the mock trial in Room 608, Nov. 7.

To read another news article check out, FC fall family picnic returns, promotes community.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: JohnMonke.