Girl Scout Council & Administratively Unified Courts of Los Angeles County Contact: Ruth Goziker, Trial Court Administrator Malibu Judicial District 23525 Civic Center Way, Malibu, CA 90265 E-mail: rgoziker@co.la.ca.us GIRL SCOUT LAW DAY Activity Summary: Girl Scout Law Day was a joint collaboration for a full day of activities at the Van Nuys branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court. The event was staged in the largest Superior facility in the San Fernando Valley. Ten courtrooms were used as well as a courtroom lockup, jury assembly room, clerk’s office, and cafeteria. The younger Brownies (7-8 years old) were scheduled to attend the event for 3 hours and the rest of the girls were scheduled to attend for 6 hours. The Brownies watched the Los Angeles Superior Court produced, award-winning video of the trial of the Big Bad Wolf. They discussed the verdict with an attorney after the video. The girls toured the facility and had their picture taken in a courtroom lock up. They worked on designing a community service project and participated in a skit about Good Samaritans. The Junior, Cadette, and Senior Girl Scouts (9-18 years old) attended sessions of teen court, mock trials, traffic trials, jury orientation, and polygraph evidence techniques. They also toured the facility, participated in a jury orientation, and attended a career session. During the career sessions they met face to face with a Court Commissioner, team of court reporters, District Attorney, private attorney, Public Defender, Spanish and Sign language interpreters, police photographer, police evidence expert, sheriff, and court manager. In order to expand public awareness of rule of law, the event provided sessions of mock trials, teen court, and traffic court. The girls participated in a Jury Orientation. The girls attended a session by a polygraph examiner and met a variety of professionals in a career session. Over 900 people attended this event. The adult leaders attended all the sessions with the Girl Scouts. More than 70 girl and adult volunteers helped to make it a successful event. Traditional troops led by parents attended as well as Girl Scout Council outreach troops, led by Girl Scout professionals. The girl attendees ranged in age from 7 years old to 18 years old. In advance of the event, troops were invited to participate in a poster and essay contest. The theme of both contests was "What Freedom Means To Me." The entries were evaluated and judged by a committee of girl and adult Girl Scouts. [Examples of some of the winning entries are attached for your review.] New partnerships were forged in the execution of this event. This execution of this project was a joint collaboration between the Administratively Unified Courts of Los Angeles County, and the San Fernando Valley Girl Scout Council, Inc. (SFVGSC). The SFVGSC serves over 10,000 girls in scouting. Nearly 10% of the girls registered in scouting attended this event. Senior Girl Scouts worked with the committee in planning the event and worked with the Teen Court Judges t set up the program presentation. They also served as defendants during the sessions of court. The girls have since been asked by the Judges to collaborate and facilitate the introduction of the teen court program to local area high schools. In addition, a representative from the National Girl Scout staff flew from New York to Los Angeles specifically to be present for this event. When she returned to New York, she passed on the information the National Staff and National Board members. This had led to the possibility of national level Girl Scout law day events. This was a magical event. The Girl Scouts, both adult and girl, the committee volunteers, and the large variety of presenters had a wonderful time at the event. The volunteers were overwhelmed by the questions the girls asked as well as the enthusiasm exhibited by all the participants. The girls simply never ran out of questions to ask. The girls were riveted by what they were watching. They were on the edge of their seats while judges, attorneys, interpreters, law enforcement officers, court reporters, evidence experts, polygraph examiners all talked about their particular area of expertise. The scouts had arrived not really knowing what to expect, and encountered the justice community in a positive, educational, and fun way. The presenters were all impressed with the intelligence and enthusiasm exhibited by the girls. They were stunned when one girl playing "Goldilocks" burst into tears upon losing her case. Without exception the volunteers commented on how much fun they had bringing a basically "dry" subject to life for the scouts. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization