Across the Curriculum with Detective Fiction for Young People and Adults

Classroom Activities

Prior to participating in this unit, each student should select and read one book from Group I and compare it to the Group II text Snitchcraft:

Text reading list:

Group I (select one)

See No Evil

Truth

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Group II (all students must read)

Snitchcraft

Students will receive the "Story Map for Solve-it Stories Worksheet" (See Appendix C) to complete while reading the novels. After reading a book from Group I, students must compare the facts, detectives, witnesses, victims and supporting information in Group I to these features in their Group II assignment, Snitchcraft.

Students will have already read the assigned novels listed in the Teaching Strategy section of this curriculum unit. They will also have completed a worksheet on the basic elements of the novel.

Lesson No. 1 - Create a Mystery Skit [or] Mini Mock Trial

Anticipatory Set: Have a student to lie on the floor in front of the class. Read the excerpt from Hard Time Chapter 2 "The Woman in the Road" (See Materials for Students and Classroom). After reading the excerpt, tell the students that they know the person who dumped the body on the ground. Now ask the students what their options would be if they were a witness to this crime: would they 1) withhold the information; 2) tell the police; 3) tell another source; or 4) something else? Have them list these options on a piece of paper with explanations. Open class discussion on this topic and let students share their answers.

Write the word "snitch" on the board. Place students in groups of four or five and allow students to discuss the meaning of the word. Have one student from each group come to the board and write their group's definition. After discussing the students' definition, use the definition included in this unit for comparison for further discussion. (See Introduction, P.2 above).

Directed Instruction: I suggest the teacher prepare a PowerPoint presentation explaining: 1) crime fiction as a generic term used by publishers, booksellers, reviewers and aficionados for a subgenre of fiction that deals with crimes and their detection and criminals and their motives. As such, it is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other subgenres such as science fiction or historical fiction;⁹ and 2) the definition of snitching (See Endnote #1). Include (from above in this Unit) the reasons why witnesses refuse to tell what they know, types of witness intimidation, and crime fiction terminology. This should be prepared before class instruction.

Activity: In this activity, the teacher can elect to have the students perform either the mystery skit, the courtroom mock trial with the judge and jury or both. Students will be placed in collaborative groups of seven (depending on the class size five to six per group). Students will be required to develop a mini mock trial with role-play. The classroom should be arranged like a courtroom with seats for the judge, witness, jury and desk for prosecuting and defense attorneys. (You could easily get a courtroom diagram from the Internet.) Also, print a copy of the Story Starters (See Appendix B). The title of the mock case is "To Snitch or Not to Snitch: That is the Question." The skit must be a mystery and work back from the end of the story to the beginning. The "snitch or not to snitch" dilemma must be involved in the plot. Characters must include a snitch subjected to witness intimidation. One person must be involved in the legal field as a legal assistant, paralegal, attorney or judge, and another should be a detective who is trying to solve the case without cooperation from the witness. There should be a victim or relative of the victim. The students must offer a solution to the case in their performance.

Assessment: Skit or Mock Trial Rubric (See Appendix D)

Lesson No. 2 - Create a New Courtroom Design

Anticipatory Set: The teacher will bring in a current news article about a recent crime (homicide, rape, burglary, etc.) for students to read. Cut the article from the newspaper instead of the Internet so students can have the feeling that the incident actually occurred locally. Tell students to imagine they witnessed the crime and have some information about the incident that is not mentioned in the news article. Place the following question on the board: "As a witness to this crime, will you assist the police in the investigation?" Ask students to write their answers on a piece of paper. Students must give a supporting reason for their answers. The class will share their responses.

Directed Instruction: Teacher should discuss how cameras and cell phones have been banned from most courtrooms in America because of witness and jury intimidation. The witness or jury member's photograph can be taken for the purpose of intimidation. Have a class discussion about cameras and cell phones in the courtroom. Because of this policy, students will create a new design for the courtroom. I will call this the New Courtroom Design. Explain to students that the design of the courtroom setting is to protect witnesses and jurors.

Activity: Before students start this activity, have an example of how the present courtroom is designed or have students find a picture of a courtroom on the Internet. The new courtroom design should have the witness and jury box arranged so the audience cannot see them. However, the defendant and all other parties MUST be able to see the witness stand and jury box. Explain that the defendant has a Constitutional right to see the witnesses and jurors. Encourage students to be creative. The New Courtroom Design could be a diagram on a poster board with three-dimensional objects, coloring, painting, signs showing each section of the court, etc. It could also be devised on a flat surface such as a maze with three-dimensional objects protruding from the base to show the new layout of the courtroom. It could also be made with lumber, sticks or other items to show the new courtroom design, coloring and signs showing each section of the court should be required. For instance, where will the judge's bench be located? Where will the jury box, witness box, court clerk desk, bailiff, court reporter and audience be located? You could invite a judge or jury coordinator from the court in your local jurisdiction to visit your classroom to see the displays or you could hold a showcase for your school.

Assessment: Rubric for New Courtroom Design (See Appendix D)

Lesson No. 3 - Create an Informative Witness Brochure

The Anticipatory Set will include a Human Graph. Place three signs in different areas of your classroom. Each sign will be different and have the words Agree, Disagree and Not Sure. The teacher will have the students stand along the walls of the classroom. The teacher will read a statement about an aspect of the criminal justice process relating to witness intimidation or police investigations. Example: "When a witness (who is not protected by privilege)¹⁰ refuses to tell what they know about a crime, the police have the authority to place them in jail." Answer: Disagree. Students are to go and stand next to one of the signs Agree, Disagree or Not Sure sign. After students are in place, the teacher will give the correct answer to the question with an explanation. Have students explain why they stood next to one of the three signs. The students who get all of the questions correct will receive an incentive (pencil, eraser, or extra points). Other questions would be:

1. You told the police what you saw as a witness, but you forgot to communicate another fact. Once you make a statement, you cannot add or delete from your statement (Answer: False, or Disagree. A witness can add, change or restate their statements.)
2. The defendant is never told the names of the witnesses prior to trial. (Answer: False or Disagree. The plaintiff and defendants receive a witness list prior to coming to court. It's called the discovery process.)
3. If you talk to a classmate about the past week's sports event, and later he/she finds out that you talked to the police and asks you what you said to them, this is not considered witness intimidation because the person did not touch you or threaten you. There's no law against someone conversing with a witness. (Answer: True or Agree. However, you may take this question further and ask the students to add to the scenario and determine when intimidation has taken place. [It would be with some type of threat; see the Witness Intimidation Section in this unit.])
4. You are a witness to a case, but decide you no longer want to participate in the case. You don't show up to court. This is okay as long as you have a good reason (Answer: False or Disagree. This would be considered contempt of court. If you are a witness, and are subpoenaed to court, you must show up for court. [After giving the answer, ask students what are some things that a witness can do if they don't want to go to court, after being subpoenaed to court. Answer: prior to court date, contact the court, judge, detective, etc.])
5. eacher could write additional questions about the court and witnesses prior to this activity.)

Directed Instruction: Discuss why it is important to be a witness in solving a crime. Discuss police investigative techniques (see above in this unit). Have a police officer come to your class to discuss police investigation and solving cases with reluctant witnesses and witness protection.

Activity: Witness Brochure. The collaborative assignments will be a Think-Pair-Share. The content headings of the Witness Brochure and the research topics will be exclusive to educating the public about the importance of witness assistance in solving crime cases, witness protection, aspects of police investigative procedure, court procedure, consequences of witness intimidation, pros and cons of the snitching dilemma, and ethical and moral reasons why witnesses should help solve crime cases. The brochure will be distributed throughout the student's neighborhood and the school.

The project-based learning assignment will include research about being a witness. It will be an informative tool akin to a "witness handbook" but created in the form of a brochure. Students will research this topic through the Internet, books, magazines and periodicals. Upon completion of the research, students will access the Publisher software to actually create the brochure. The elements of the brochure will include information a witness to a crime needs to know. Such questions that will be addressed in the brochure are:

1. Will the suspect be given my address if I am a witness?
2. What happens to the statement I give?
3. Who will see the statement I give?
4. What do I do if someone tries to intimidate me?
5. Will I have to go to court?
6. What will happen if I don't go to court? (CPS, Pgs. 3-6)
7. Why you should tell what you know about a crime.
8. What are the crime statistics in your state, city or town? (Select from the FBI-Uniform Crime Report: Part 1 Index crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, motor vehicle theft, larceny, burglary and arson.)

Assessment: Rubric for Witness Brochure. Each side of the brochure must have information about the designated topics. (See Appendix D)

Activity No. 1 - Field Trip to Police Department

A supplemental activity is a trip to your local police department so that students will be able to visualize where witnesses are interviewed and suspects are interrogated. You could also arrange to have a mock interview of the students by the detectives.

Activity No. 5 - A&E Classroom

Another supplemental activity I am including in this unit is from A&E in the Classroom and can be viewed on the A&E cable station. The program The First 48 TV Show is a detective program that allows the viewer to observe real life crime scenes, witness interviews, autopsies and interrogations. Students will be able to observe the difficulties of police investigations, which will include reluctant witnesses and other problems that detectives encounter. Students will also observe the various techniques that detectives use to solve a crime. The First 48 TV Show is a news documentary based on the expertise of homicide detectives who give themselves 48 hours from the time they are called to a homicide crime scene to solve the case. In law enforcement, the case is solved when a suspect is in custody and charges are filed. With this television program, students will witness real life connections between the crime fiction novels they have read and what they see at a modern day crime scene.

Include a worksheet for the student to complete while watching the television program. Sample questions are: 1) give a summary of the case; 2) where and how did the detectives interview a witness? 3) list some questions that detectives asked the witnesses; 4) how did the witness(es) react to the detectives? and 5) what question do you want to ask the detectives?