We bring the American Justice System to life!

Thanks to WV Department of Health & Human Resources, the WALS Foundation offers local students a chance to participate in educational mock trials - right in their own classroom.

The WALS Foundation offers students a chance to participate in an educational mock trial - right in their own classroom. (photo left: Kim Miller, Curriculum Coordinator, Ohio County Schools and Barbara Knutsen, Executive Director, The WALS Foundation)

Recognizing that all children are at-risk for juvenile delinquency behavior, The WALS (Wheeling Academy of Law and Science) Foundation has designed a mock trial project that brings the system of American justice to life as it addresses the subject of substance abuse, most recently RX drug abuse. The goal of the Foundation is to demonstrate the objective of justice and workings of our civil and criminal justice system by allowing students to act out the roles of lawyers, witnesses, jurors and more, based on factual case scenarios (scripts) prepared by the Foundation. The scripts portray the unfortunate circumstances that can occur when the choice is made to abuse drugs, leading right up to a day in court where the defendant’s future depends on the decision of twelve strangers who have been chosen to decide his/her fate.

This is the 9th year for the mock trial program sponsored by The WALS Foundation, a non-profit organization. Over 9,500 students have participated in the project thus far in these two-day age-appropriate scripted mock trials in all 4th or 5/th and 8th grade public school classrooms in the Ohio Co., as well after-school and summer programs, and outreach in Hancock, Jackson, Marshall, Tyler, Wetzel and Kanawha counties. All 5th and 8th grade Ohio Co. public school students currently participate thanks to grant funding from Department of Health and Human Resources in WV. Eight additional counties were currently funded through the Appalachian Regional Commission which included Marshall, Tyler, Wetzel, Kanawha, Clay, Braxton, Barbour and McDowell counties.

“Prescription drug abuse came on the scene several years ago and our scripts reflected this issue as it was emerging. It has become a huge problem in an epidemic stage among our youth today,” says Barbara Knutsen, Executive Director of the WALS Foundation. “The goal of this project is to educate students about the dangers of RX drug abuse issues through innovative, creative and active participation in the demonstration process.”

New scripts were written last year. The case is a criminal case and it involves teens taking another persons RX drugs, crashing the car and one dying in the accident. The other teens involved find themselves being charged with possession, distribution and involuntary manslaughter. Unfortunately, it’s a real life scenario. All students participate – they are the ones that decide the fate of these defendants.

This project is a two-day classroom process. Teachers receive a packet in advance with general information about the project, a role list for students, a mock up on how to move the class around to look like a courtroom and vocabulary words relating to the scripts. On the first day, Mrs. Knutsen presents pre-trial discussion, talks about the RX drug problem in WV and its negative effects, passes out handouts, and explains the steps in a trial in detail, along with a quick rehearsal of the script to make the students comfortable with where they sit/stand for each part.

On the second day, she brings a volunteer lawyer from the area to play the role of Judge, a suitcase full of props such as scarves/ties for the lawyers, a court reporting machine, a gavel and robe for the Judge, name tags for all jurors, any evidence applicable and other appropriate props to make it fun for the students. After completion of the trial and a question and answer series with the “Judge”, all students are given the popular gavel pencils that read: ‘I participated in a mock trial to KNOCK OUT DRUGS!’

Our goal is to expand this mock trial program statewide to all 5th graders. Our current project brings the American Justice system to life and helps to reduce drug use by telling students about specific drugs and the negative impact it can have on their life.

For more information, please call Barbara Knutsen at 304.232.2576 or via email.