Students determine fate of accused
Ontario Justice Education Network puts high school students in a courtroom scenario
In the back alley of a bar on Halloween night, a man punches a second male, resulting in the man’s death. The death was accidental.
Is he guilty of the charge of manslaughter or should he be found not guilty?
That was the question a group of young people had to decide during a mock trial held in Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Wednesday.
Organized by the Ontario Justice Education Network, the mock trial pitted teams of high school students against each other in a courtroom scenario: one team on prosecution, the other on defence.
“I was the prosecutor,” said Ronald Smitko, 17. “I gave the opening statement and cross-examined one of the witnesses.”
The E.L. Crossley student plans to focus on political science and law at university and hopes to one day become a Crown attorney.
“I thought this was a really amazing experience to be able to learn from actual lawyers and judges,” the Grade 12 student said.
Teacher Rick Doucet said the event was a great opportunity for students to gain an understanding of what happens in the court system.
“The students were very keen in wanting to participate,” he said.
Lissa Murray, a teacher at Sir
Winston Churchill Secondary School, agreed.
“I have at least four or five students who are interested in pursuing law and we thought this would be a great opportunity,” she said.
Five teams participated in the preliminary rounds in the morning, followed by a final round between the top two teams in the afternoon. The winning school was Sir Winston Churchill.
“I thought it was a really good experience and really cool to sit there and be a lawyer,” said Churchill student Taylor Meechan, 18.
“This is nothing like what you see on TV.”
The students played the roles of lawyers, the accused and witnesses in front of a judge, played by local Crown attorneys.
And, although the students had detailed descriptions of the case and characters, the courtroom drama was not scripted and proceeded as if a guilty/not guilty verdict was actually on the line — complete with objections from the opposition, hostile questioning and uncooperative witnesses.
Each team was mentored by a local lawyer.
“Mock trials allow students to put themselves into role of criminal lawyers and justice system participants and to demonstrate that they have the potential to be great lawyers if they choose,” said criminal defence lawyer David D’Intino.
“While many of our participants do go on to pursue a legal education, for those who don’t, the skills they develop are applicable to almost any post-secondary program or workplace environment, and the self-confidence that we foster is invaluable to them as they grow into adults.”
Teams from Saint Paul High School and A.N. Myer Secondary School, both from Niagara Falls, and Grimsby’s Blessed Trinity Catholic Secondary School also participated in the event.
The Ontario Justice Education Network is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization which develops educational tools that introduce young people to the justice system and help them understand the law.
The agency’s programs are delivered across Ontario by a pool of approximately 1,200 justice sector volunteers, including judges, lawyers and paralegals.