Adopted from Lesson by John Marlow
Lesson:
Washington Criminal Law: Seattle Crime Mystery Game
Source:
Original Lesson Plan; Power Point; Game Sheets; Boss Cards; Neighborhood
Cards; Crime Cards
Time:
50 min.
I.
GOALS
a. Understand the elements of various criminal laws, with a focus on WA State
b. Gain insight into key concepts and vocab in criminal law such as degrees of
crimes, burden of proof, elements, actus reus, mens rea.
II.
OBJECTIVES
a. Knowledge objectives
i. Each state has its own criminal laws that define elements, degrees,
defenses, etc.
ii. Criminal laws general contain an actus reus and mens rea component.
iii. Assault, arson, murder, manslaughter, burglary, and conspiracy are
examples of the criminal laws.
iv. The prosecution must prove all the elements of a crime in order to convict.
b. Skills objectives
i. Identify vocab that is distinct to criminal law and cases.
ii. Become more comfortable standing up and speaking in front of small
groups.
iii. Describe the difference between actus reus and mens rea.
c. Attitude objectives
i. Criminal laws reflect values within each state.
ii. There are serious policy concerns and justifications for defining criminal
laws in the way we do, e.g. conspiracy laws.
III.
CLASSROOM METHODS
a. CLASSROOM PREPARATION (done before class starts)
i. Print out enough game worksheets for each student (part 1 & 2 stapled),
print out AND CUT OUT game cards (bosses, neighborhoods, and
crimes), arrange room so that groups of 4-5 can be situated around the
center of the class, evenly spaced. Students can either sit with whoever
they chose as they arrive or in assigned spots.
ii. Take (randomly) ONE boss card, ONE neighborhood card, and 2 crime
cards (Must have the actus reus and mens rea of a SINGLE crime. Shuffle
the rest). Place the selected cards in a secret folder in the middle of the
room or with the moderators/instructors.
iii. Keep the remaining cards ready and shuffled to distribute during the game
(aka not all the cards will be either distributed right away or part of the
solution set).
iv. Place game sheets at or near the group tables.
b. LECTURE (15 min)
i. Explain that today the class will be playing a game that is much like the
old board game CLUE. If they haven’t ever played it, instructions will be
provided.
ii. Explain that the more they participate and help to move the first part of
class along, the more time they will have for the game at the end.
iii. Quickly walk through the first two slides after the title slide (elements of
criminal law & some more key points).
iv. Once you arrive at the actual CRIME SLIDES, begin picking students to
stand and read the ELEMENTS section of each slide, while the instructor
reads the “NOTES” section of each slide.
1. First Degree Arson
2. First Degree Assault
3. First Degree Burglary
4. Crimes of Homicide
a. Explain that this is a broad category of crimes
b. If a student asks about the other 3 classifications of
homicide, you can explain that they are based on situations
that include special circumstances such as self-defense: this
might be justifiable homicide, for example. Today the class
is not focusing on defenses or special circumstances
5. First Degree Murder
6. First Degree Manslaughter
7. Conspiracy
a. Reiterate that Conspiracy to commit an underlying crime is
a separate crime in and of itself.
b. Highlight the NOTES section on this slide.
c. Students may have comments about fairness which you can
address but should not get stuck on.
c. SEATTLE CRIMINAL LAW MYSTERY GAME – INSTRUCTIONS (5min)
i. Moderator/instructor should read the Scenario and Instructions slides
aloud, being as emotive as possible.
1. These instructions may take a few minutes to get through.
Reiterate that you need the class to PAY ATTENTION and raise
IV.
V.
their hands if they have questions. This will allow MUCH more
time for the game.
d. SEATTLE CRIMINAL LAW MYSTERY GAME – ROUNDS (25-30min)
i. Refer to powerpoint for game scenario and general rules.
ii. Start the first round and circulate the room answering questions and
making sure that students aren’t accidentally sharing their game sheets or
giving away too much info. Once everyone has returned to their group,
start the next round, etc.
iii. Be thinking of an easy trivia question related to a past Streetlaw lessons
that you can ask as soon as the first rounds are finished (i.e. once each
group has sent an “informant” to all the other groups). The first group to
answer the question gets to draw a secret card which should help them
narrow down answers, but then it also becomes sharable information with
other informants.
iv. IF time is running out because the class is delayed or the students are not
getting close to an answer, you can ask additional bonus trivia questions or
go around the room allowing each team to draw bonus cards, which then
also become sharable informant information.
EVALUATION
a. Trivia questions for review
b. How well did the student participate in the game
c. Check to make sure they were crossing out sections of their game sheets
ASSIGNMENT
a. No homework today.