Raylene Ackerbauer’s College Writing 101 classes recently punctuated a unit analyzing “In Cold Blood,” the landmark non-fiction Truman Capote novel, with a pair of mock trials.
The Poughkeepsie High School library was converted into a makeshift courtroom for the two roughly 90-minute trials on Jan. 14, in which students played the roles of lawyers and witnesses. The jury, which was the same for both trials, included students, staff members and outside expert guests.
Both classes used their reading and discussing of the text to argue the trial of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, regarding the 1959 murder of the Clutter family detailed in the book.
Ackerbauer said each of the two dual-enrollment classes engaged in four Socratic seminars to analyze the text. The trial, she said, was in lieu of turning in a paper.
“It was very beneficial,” she said. “They had to work together as a group. It really taught them a lot of problem-solving skills, a lot of critical thinking.
“The lawyers, in particular, and the people on the stand when being cross-examined… They had to be able to really listen and jot down questions that would be fitting and cross-examine them, and the people on the stand had to be able to remember the context of who their character was to know how to respond. That was a huge critical thinking aspect.”
While the students based their performances off of the book, they were not following a script. Each had to understand their roles well enough to speak expertly in character. That included the lawyers, who worked on their own opening and closing statements and formed their own questions for witnesses. Many of those who took the stand dressed in character and some expert witnesses crafted their own props, like full autopsy reports and psychiatric evaluations.
Members of the jury were given information packets detailing their role and the parameters through which they should make their decisions. And, based solely on the trials presented, their decisions were mixed. While one trial resulted in a hung jury, in another Hickock was sentenced to death and Smith was sent to a mental institution.
“They did a great job, both teams,” Ackerbauer said. “They worked very hard. And, we had some fun.”