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CPS Elementary Students Relish Their Turn in Jury Box

Excited To Perform an Oft-Maligned Civic Duty

CHICAGO, IL (November 22, 2010—Most adults will do whatever they can to avoid jury duty—a civic duty often considered inconvenient at best. However, when fourth graders in Beth Levinsky's class at Sawyer Elementary School in Gage Park were asked what it felt like to be on a jury, twenty hands enthusiastically shot up in the air. “Amazing,” said one wide-eyed student, almost reverently.

Levinsky's students from Sawyer Elementary participate in Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago's interactive mock trial program State v Wolf. The program, funded by Polk Bros. Foundation, brings local attorneys into the classroom to help first to fourth grade students act as members of the jury in a trial based on the children's story The Three Little Pigs. The students ultimately decide the fate of B.B. Wolf, who is charged with destruction of property after allegedly blowing down two pigs' houses. He claims it was merely a sneeze.

The students' animated feedback from the program suggests that they are thrilled to interact with adults in a situation where their opinions matter. Forty percent of participating students claimed that this was the primary reason why they enjoyed the exercise. In addition to Sawyer, the 2010 program involves students and teachers at Calhoun North Elementary, Goudy Elementary, Hawthorne Scholastic Academy, and McCutcheon Elementary Schools in Chicago.

“The attorneys were wonderful and really made the whole experience more authentic,” said past participating teacher Shari Ruane of Paul Cuffe Academy. “My students talked about it for days afterwards.”

Attorneys were also impressed at the ability of students to make an impartial decision based on the facts of the trial. “The kids – to my astonishment, voted to acquit [B.B. Wolf],” noted Attorney Eugene Bernstein of Exelon Corporation. Remarkably, even the youngest participating students were able to isolate their previous knowledge of the story of The Three Little Pigs from the facts of the exercise.

“Sometimes we just need a reminder that civic service has big benefits,” said Baker & McKenzie attorney Esther Chang. “For the small price of jury duty, we're afforded a justice system that lets its citizens make the impartial decisions in a fair trial. I'm glad these students can learn this important lesson at such an early age.”