Since 1983 the Ventura County Office of Education has partnered with the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) to provide the Mock Trial for our students. Each year approximately 600 Ventura County students, in grades 9-12, actively experience the excitement of working in teams, exchanging ideas, setting goals, and examining issues while interacting with positive role models from their communities. The winning county team is then invited to the State Mock Trial to compete with their peers from across California where many of our past teams have then gone on to compete in the National Mock Trial. The Mock Trial is designed to clarify the workings of our legal institutions for students through first-hand experience. Students in grades 9 to 14 portray each of the principals in the cast of courtroom characters. Student teams study a hypothetical case, conduct legal research, receive guidance from volunteer attorneys in courtroom procedure and trial preparation, and present their case before volunteer judges. The goal of the Constitutional Rights Foundation is to “instill in our nation’s youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.”