Putting the tobacco industry on trial for murder, fraud and conspiracy: An innovative mock trial curriculum for high school students

The tobacco industry's products have caused death and destruction in the lives of not only its consumers but those affected by secondhand smoke. 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. 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.