After my visit to the Manhattan Criminal Court house, I left with the impression that I live in a city of troubles. There were so many people of all ages, men and women from different backgrounds yet they portray similar images of themselves; they are ignorant and naive. I believe this is because many of them grew up as underprivileged children with little or no opportunities to make something of themselves. However if they did have these opportunities, they sure did lack some guidance as to what they should or should not be doing.
Some of these cases were memorable to me, mainly because I was startled and shock to hear some of them. One of the first few cases involved a woman who was arrested for child endangerment. I felt pity for her in a way because she was homeless and sleeping on the trains. I could not help but wonder whether her kids were better off alone than riding the subway up and down during the night. Another thing I noticed about the woman was the way she dressed and how unattractive she looked. Her hair was uncombed and suffocating under a rag that looked worn out and torn. She also wore loose baggy clothes that was hanging under her waist the same way men wear their pants. This style started under the influence of prisoners who were not allowed to wear belts which resulted in their pants falling. Its a little ironic that she looked and dressed like a prisoner yet she was in court fighting so that she wouldn’t have to go to prison. Why dress like something or someone you don’t want to be?
Another case that was memorable was the case of the young man who was arrested for walking in a “crowd”. He supposedly was walking around a group of individuals who felt assaulted by his actions. This young man looked closer to my age group than any other person that was in the court room. How ever old he was, he still should not have to be in court for something so childish like that. I liked the example that the lawyer gave in his defense that if he’s going to get in trouble for walking around people, then people on 42nd street should get arrested as well because they do the same thing everyday! I think that it was this comment that saved the young man and allowed him to walk away with no punishment. . .for now.
The last case was the best case being that it was in a higher court. I’ve only seen attempted murder cases on TV and what I saw in person was nothing like how I expected it to be. The jury, didn’t look as serious. They looked a little hungry and anxious to leave. The judge, didn’t really say much other than sustained the defendant’s lawyer’s objection. The lawyer who was questioning the man did not walk around like how they do on TV and lastly, there wasn’t that much people in the audience. The case itself was interesting because the guy who was testifying had so much criminal background and a violent past. I was officially in a room with a dangerous man and there’s nothing more exciting and at the same time intimidating than that.
As far as the experience as a whole, I really enjoyed being there on Monday. I learned a lot about how the judicial system works and how justice is served in my community. Also, I was happy to see that there were WOMEN judges and lawyers of Latino, African American and Caucasian backgrounds. A bit inspiring on my part. 🙂
