The Kent State University Mock Trial Team competed in the Regional American Mock Trial Association Tournament held on February 13th and 14th at the University of Pittsburgh Law School.
Although the Team did not advance to the National Tournament this year, the coaches Dr. Peter Charles Kratcoski, an emeritus and adjunct professor of sociology and justice studies, and his son Peter Christopher Kratcoski, a Kent attorney and KSU adjunct instructor in justice studies and political science, were proud of the team’s performance. All of the students received high scores on their performances and were praised by the judges assigned to preside over the trials. The judges presiding over the trials follow the courtroom procedures and rules of evidence as close to “real life” as possible. When the trials are completed, the judges discuss the performances of the teams and answer questions posed by members of the teams.
The American Mock trial Association (AMTA) was founded in 1985. Presently AMTA hosts 25 regional tournaments as well as a national tournament. More than 350 universities and colleges will participate in tournaments during the year, providing a forum for more than 5,300 undergraduate students.
For the past 15 years, the Kent State Department of Political Science and the College of the Arts and Sciences teamed together to send a team to the AMTA. During the competition, the teams from around the country compete in a courtroom atmosphere. The case used in the competition is either a civil law case or a criminal case. The fictional civil case used for the 2015 competition centered on the death of an eleven year old girl who was shot and killed by her eleven year old best friend. Twenty-six teams from Colleges and Universities located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Washington D.C., Michigan, and Illinois participated in the Pittsburgh Tournament.
