CSI/Grand Jury/Mock Trial

Crime Scene Investigation

Amanda Hayes Foundation's Crime Scene Investigation Program is part of its social justice program. The students don hazmat suits, goggles, face masks, gloves, and booties, and are provided with CSI evidence collection kits. The students are divided into teams and the teams collect DNA evidence—fingerprints, soil samples, blood (fake) samples, hair samples, fingernail residue, etc.—from a customized fake dead body, which is lying at the crime scene. The collected samples are labeled, placed in an evidence bag, and initialed for chain of custody, by the students.

The students then head to the lab to examine the collected evidence under microscopes, and report their findings. An audio/visual team will photograph and record the event. We provide the fact pattern and teach them how to investigate, analyze and record evidence.

This STEM workshop falls within our vision of helping urban youth, make positive choices, namely education over incarceration, by exposing them to career paths, and providing the tools, knowledge, and steps to envision themselves in those careers.

Grand Jury

We teach students what a grand jury is, how it is selected, how it operates, and why it exists. To accomplish this task, we make the student participants grand jurors and witnesses. Student grand jurors evaluate the evidence that is collected, and determine whether or not the accused should be indicted.

Mock Trial

Students perform an entire trial from beginning to end. Acting as attorneys and witnesses, students deliver opening statements and closing arguments, and they direct and cross examine witnesses. They also present the evidence collected during the crime scene investigations. Students draft all of their own statements, arguments and examinations.

Securing The Scene

Student crime scene investigators secure the crime scene.

Evidence Collection

Investigators collect evidence from the body and crime scene.

Examining Evidence

The investigators examine the evidence they collected under microscopes, write reports, and give oral presentations.