THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: The Fresno County Office of Education and the Fresno Unified School District hosted the Mock Trial Competition. The state competition is sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, with cosponsorship from the California State Bar Association and the California Young Lawyer's Association. This program consists of local county competitions and a state final which includes student seminars and activities in state government as well as the trial play-offs. The Mock Trial is a simulation of a criminal case, with high school students playing the various roles involved in the case presentation. Students from one high school present the case for the prosecution against students from another high school who present the defense. The Mock Trial is designed to demystify the workings of our legal institutions for young people as the student teams study a hypothetical case, do legal research, and are coached by volunteer attorneys in courtroom procedure and trial preparation. Students participate as counsel, witnesses, or court clerks, actually presenting their cases in courtrooms before municipal and superior court judges. Through the Mock Trial Competition, young people increase their analytical abilities, learn self-confidence, develop communication skills, and gain an understanding of our court system. This year's Mock Trial Competition has involved 12 city and county high schools including 170 students and 12 teacher/sponsors. The participating schools are: Bullard High School, Central High School, Clovis High School, Clovis West High School, Fresno High School, Hoover High School, Kerman High School, Kingsburg Joint Union High School, McLane High School, Roosevelt High School, Sanger High School, and Sierra Joint Union High School. The schools received the criminal case packet prepared by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. Twenty-four attorney coaches from the Fresno County Bar Association and Young Lawyer's Association assisted the teams in their case preparation. The cases were heard before nine municipal and superior court judges assisted by 19 attorneys in the scoring process. The winning team from Fresno County will participate in the California State Mock Trial Competition in Sacramento on March 6-8, 1984. In addition to the final trials, students will explore state government, meeting with their legislators and examining the important issues facing California. This document was selected by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Task Force on Public Confidence as descriptive of a promising practice or exemplary project worthy of highlighting for the California educational community. (Author)