Ask the DA: Crime awareness can begin early

I recently read about the Legal Lives program for fifth-grade students that your office sponsors. Can you explain what the program is about?

Since 1990, my assistant district attorneys have been bringing the criminal justice system to the fifth grade classrooms that they visit in Brooklyn. I founded the Legal Lives program in response to drug-related and bias crimes.

The Legal Lives program is based upon my firm belief that preventing crime is as imperative an objective as prosecuting a case once a crime has actually taken place. According to educators, fifth-grade students are the ideal age group to begin implementing this strategy.

The Legal Lives program has assistant district attorneys from my office collaborate with teachers to present a specialized, law-related curriculum twice a month. The subject matter of the lesson plans examines the facts of actual cases, including crimes such as drug and gun possession, acts of bias, shoplifting and gangs.

Students will be provided with a script allowing them to role-play the given lesson. The students will thereby learn the elements of the law in question as relevant to their age group, and respond to questions presented by the given fact pattern. Ultimately, the conversation focuses upon the choices made by the characters in the particular lesson.

The classroom presentations are supplemented by court tours and an interactive weekly radio show. During the court tours students have the opportunity to observe actual court proceedings and talk with criminal court judges. At the radio show, students present one of the Legal Lives lessons, followed up by other students calling in to the show and asking questions.

Finally, at the end of the school year, students participate in a mock trial competition which provides students with the opportunity to compete in an actual courtroom while acting out the roles of judges, attorneys, witnesses and jurors before a panel of judges. This year’s winning school was from P.S. 203 in Old Mill Basin.

The Legal Lives program has been replicated in schools across the state and country. For more information, call 718-250-3446, or visit our website at www.brooklynda.org.