Once Upon a Crime: Using Stories, Simulations, and Mock Trials to Explore Justice and Citizenship in Elementary School

David E. Kemp is professor emeritus of drama at Queen’s University.

The authors are both affiliated with the Centre for Education, Law and
Society in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University.

Once Upon a Crime uses stories, mock trials, and simulations to help
elementary-school children arrive at solutions to scenarios in which a
person’s rights have been violated in some way. For example, children
are asked to consider what crime the wolf committed against the three
little pigs (a problem of identification), and moving on from that
issue, to suggest what obligation the wolf has with respect to the
porcine house repair. There are many more examples. Did Goldilocks
wilfully trespass and destroy the property of the three bears? Was Peter
Pan guilty of trespassing?

The concept of conducting mock trials based on fairy stories and other
multicultural narratives encourages critical thinking, allows children
to develop literary and verbal skills, and encourages conflict
resolution through mediation and negotiation.

My only reservation about this otherwise excellent book concerns the
scripted trials. By requiring students to use the words of others rather
than their own, the movement from improvised drama into formal theatre
may inadvertently diminish learning rather than enhance it.