Reflection Paper On Court Experience

I went through the same security procedures as before upon entering. When I arrived, there was a trial already in progress in courtroom B, but there were to be trials in both courtrooms that day. I had a seat in the waiting area along with a handful of other people waiting to enter the courtroom or to hear from their attorneys. Some people looked distressed and others were talking amongst themselves. There were two women in the waiting area and a public defender came for each of them. One of the women signed for a continuance and left the building. The other woman had to pay a fine and she was also out pretty quickly. A few minutes passed and another public defender comes to speak to two of his waiting clients, separate cases, but gets a continuance for both. In one case the prosecutor did not show up. The defendant was arguing over the weight of the marijuana in the possession charge and demands it gets weighed again. The other case the public defender declares “The state made an offer, it is not what we want, so we’ll come back to court again another day” and sets a new court

Everyone was subjected to security including the lawyers and employees of the court house. Everyone was either in some type of uniform or dressed extremely formal, even if they were just spectators. Few people were in the court room, but not many. The judge, lawyers and people that were being represented had not still entered the building. Moments later the plaintiff, Dawn-Evans Donahue, and the defendant Joseph Donahue with their lawyers Michael Morris and John M. Makowski, entered the court room. They had taken their place on each of the court room to make their cases in front of the judge. The bailiff then told us to all rise for their entrance of Judge Polansky. We all rose and took our seats. The court had now been set in motion for deliberation. The judge was wearing the standard gown that is portrayed in films and in real life, there was no jury because this was not a trial court, this was a family matters case.

The main role of the courts is to interpret and apply the law. In terms of a criminal justice process the court serves as the place in which a trial is heard and a sentence decided.

I conducted my observation at the Regional Justice Court in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is located at 200 Lewis Ave. I was able to see the morning docket of the Honorable Judge Diana Sullivan, who happens to be one of four pilot judges for the new Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment (NPR). I went on the morning of Monday March 20th, to observe both her 8am docket and her 9:30am docket. The 8am docket contained initial appearances and arraignments for the in-custody suspects. There were a few status checks and arraignments for out of custody suspects as well. The 9:30 docket was entirely out of custody and there were a few initial appearances and preliminary hearings.

Nash & Edgecombe Teen Court is where I decided to complete my service learning for this grading period. If you don’t know what “Teen Court” is i’ll be more than happy to explain. Teen court is held on certain dates, in either Rocky Mount, Tarboro or Nashville. You pick your preference. Teen court includes teen’s from ages 14-18 that participate in real live court sessions of other teens who decided to go to teen court as an alternative instead of going to real court. In the courtroom we have the judge, lawyers, jury, clerk, reporter and most importantly the witness. As the teen in the court you can decided whether you want to be a clerk, jury member or a lawyer. I am summoned for court in all three cities, in order to appear in court you must

I decided to attend a night traffic court session at the Ventura Courthouse. The cases ranged from seat belt violations to reckless driving. Most of the defendants appeared before the court to request more time to pay the fines associated with the tickets. I was surprised to see that very few of the people in the courthouse were pleading not guilty. Only one person showed up to defend a case with legal help from an attorney of some sort.

There are many known, crooked, twisted ways of our juvenile system.So many young children getting their lives destroyed and ruined all because of our juvenile system.This Problem became noticed in 1960 when a 15 year old boy got arrested and had a life changing, ruining, experience all because of a prank phone call. In 1967 the supreme court finally tried to resolve this problem and bring justice to all children, but fixing it wasn't going to be as easy as giving childrens, teens, rights to a lawyer, and no double jeopardy. In the late 90s and early 2000s over 200,000 children were tried as adults, children getting the death penalty and getting life in jail without even chance of parole.There was even a

I visited Monroe County Court on March 30th, 2016. The court case was called, “Williams vs United States”, and Williams was being sued for possession of an unregistered handgun on September 18th, 2015. The court procedure started at about 2:45 P.M. when Judge Randall entered the courtroom. Upon entering the courtroom everyone present arose. After rising Judge Randall asked everyone in the courtroom to sit down, and the judge briefly overviewed the nature of the case.

The American Juvenile justice system is where youth, who are caught in a criminal act, are convicted of their crimes. The juvenile justice system also intervenes using the police, court and correctional facility for delinquent behavior. The juvenile justice system was not always around. There was only criminal court or adult court, there are many differences between juvenile court and adult court. And also, there are some exceptions on which youth could be charged as adults.

On Friday, April, 4, 2014, I observed the Vanderburgh County Superior Court to observe different family law cases. The cases I heard involved contempt of court for failing to pay child support, failure to appear for a court appointed drug test, birth certificate affidavit, request for contest hearing time, and an issue of paternity case. Magistrate Judge Sheila M. Corcoran was presiding over the family court hearings. When entering the courthouse, I was greeted by security and advised to remove any cell phones, and/or, any other items that would trigger a metal detector. After this, I proceeded straight to look for the family courtroom. After roaming around mindlessly for a couple minutes, I decided to ask the courthouse officer monitoring

I appreciate this type of court because these kids were given a much more forgiving experience (for example, their guardian is present at

When I walked in, the defendant was seated on the stand, and he was telling the judge that he had filed for custody of his four children. As he was explaining why, Brad Macdonald, the ex-wife’s lawyer, objected. His reason for objecting was that the basis for filing was not relevant. I didn’t know that lawyers were free to interrupt people on the bench while they were presenting their case. The judge sustained the objection, and the defendant continued to plead his case.

That same day I headed down to the magistrate court I had been here before. This court is more of assembly line justice sine each case is probably like 5 minutes long. The judges name was locatell. The first case I heard was a male he was being charged with reckless driving. The judge then tells him that is a 5 day minimum in jail. At this point u enter a plea he entedred a not guilty plead. After he please there is a bench trail and there will be a posector and see what you sentence will be and the cop that issued the ticket will be there so that both stories can be heard. What I also noticed at this court is that you don’t have to be dressed up you can show up like you just rolled out of bed.

During this week, I followed Mark for a majority of the time. My supervisor is gone for the next two weeks due to vacation. I ended up going to a couple of things with Mark during the first week. The first thing I went to was a home visit in DeKalb. It was interesting to see the caseworker side of home visits. The previous visit I went on was a person wanting to become a foster parent. The second thing I was supposed to do was go to an adoption court case, but that did not turn out so well. I went to the courthouse at 8:15am to meet one of the other permanency workers. She told me to go on the second floor and she would be there. I went on the second floor and she was nowhere to be seen. I went up and down the floors trying to find her and she was nowhere.

If you were asked to describe a sunset, what would you say? Perhaps you would gaze into the sky and be dazzled by a sea of vibrant hues: fuchsia, violet, and gold. Enormous, cottony clouds may fill your periphery in a gorgeous, multifaceted display of nature’s inherent opulence. You may utilize every positive adjective in your arsenal to espouse the glorious vision laid out before you. However, your next-door neighbor may tell a different story. When they look up, they might see a smog-infested atmosphere rife with rain-impregnated clouds that will surely be ruining the rest of their night. Whose account is accurate? Is it possible for both parties to be correct? Can they both be wrong?