Introduction & Rules

You are jurors in a very difficult case of murder; real jurors should not reinvestigate the case or get influenced by media or have personal feelings about the case. But you should! Guess what happened, have sympathies for whoever you want and replace lack of evidence by your intuition.

You must reach a unanimous decision (all of you most agree on the verdict), if you do not reach it, you will be replaced and the jury which comes after you will make a wrong decision. You are the only people who could save an innocent person or convict a criminal.

Remember you are in the 1900s, life was different in that time, a lot of police methods had not been discovered or widely used yet. If you can, play it like you are in that time. Nevertheless, one thing is different in our game – we welcome women to be part of the jury.

You might get additional information during the game which might help you make the decision (or not).

After you have reached the final verdict, the truth will be revealed to you…

To-do List

Check before you are done with this (pre-speaking) part of the activity:

  • I have watched all the testimonies.
  • I have gone through photos, detective’s notes and other reports from the scene of crime
  • I have read the newspaper articles.
  • I have checked the vocabulary, I understand the words, I can pronounce them and use them in spoken interaction.
  • I have checked useful phrases for debating.
  • I might have even taken some notes about the case (or vocabulary) and I am ready for discussion.