We have created this mock trial website to help illustrate in a fun interactive manner how the U.S. legal system works and the important role played by the people who serve on juries. Our legal system cannot work if citizens don't participate. If you do not support the legal system by participating in it, then everyone suffers the consequences of a system in which only a few people determine what is right and wrong.
Jury service is a crucial part of our system of justice.
Americans expect our courts to decide fairly and are justly upset, when this does not happen, but try to imagine a world where judgements are rendered without citizen input and you expect the decision to be unfair. One of our very important civic obligations is to participate as jurors in the legal system when called upon to serve. In providing this mock trial outline, we hope in some small measure to help educate students about our system of justice and the importance of jury service. As former colonists of Great Britain, the Founding Fathers of the United States adopted much of the legal system of Great Britain. The jury, a panel of ordinary citizens chosen to decide a case, is an integral part of our common-law system.