2007 National Conference on Tobacco or Health

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Exhibit Hall

Tobacco On Trial: An Innovative Mock Trial Curriculum for High School Students

Lissy C. Friedman, JD, Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law, Tobacco Control Resource Center, lissy@tplp.org

Learning Objectives: Learn about a new educational tool geared towards youth that will teach them about the tobacco industry's history, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and the American judicial process.

Problem/Objective: The tobacco industry's products have caused death and destruction in the lives of not only its consumers but those affected by secondhand smoke. Youth are the most vulnerable to secondhand smoke and require education about this important issue so that they can empower themselves and educate the adults around them.

Methods: This new and innovative curriculum puts fictional tobacco industry executives on trial for murder, fraud and conspiracy for the death of an individual resulting from exposure to secondhand smoke. The mock trial will include dossiers for the student participants that describes their role as either an attorney, a tobacco industry executive, a fact or expert witness, or a juror. Exhibits will be based on real tobacco industry internal documents and sample testimony will be derived from actual civil legal cases that already have been tried. A teacher's guide will provide background and more information about the tobacco industry and suggest additional research assignments to give the students more background knowledge about the history of tobacco production, scholarship surrounding smoking and health, and litigation.

Results: Students will learn about the tobacco industry's history of profit-driven actions that ignored public health consequences, about the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke, and also about the how the United States justice system operates.

Conclusions: The curriculum will help students learn what it means to be a responsible citizen as well as a proponent for public health.