Attending court can be an intimidating situation especially if you have never been to one before. The court that I decided to visit for our assignment was the Harris County Criminal Justice Center located at 1201 Franklin St, Houston, TX 77002. I called prior to attending the courthouse to make sure I had something to observe and take notes from. I spoke to a lady that was very nice and she let me know that there was going to be many docket calls in the court room number 174 on the 19th floor which belonged to judge Ruben Guerrero. I attended his court room on November 11th from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. When I entered the room I had mixed feelings I felt nervous, anxious, and excited all at the same time because I couldn’t wait to witness what
…show more content…
You can see many elements that are common to a courtroom such as, tables and benches made out of wood and are evenly situated among the room. The audience members are more than welcome to sit in the benches in the back facing the judge. There are also two tables and seating for both the defendant and the plaintiff which happens to be angled towards the focus of the judge’s bench. Another comparison that the series showed was the conducting of cross-examination. The judges ask questions to one party and the other party awaits their turn to speak. In some episodes there were informal language being used whereas in a real courtroom it is unacceptable to use profanity or any informal type of language. I also observed that in the television series the judges are very opinionated, brutish, and direct where a judge is seen as wise, professional, and tough. The reason why the court-reality judges act the way they do is because they want their ratings to be high and they want to keep the viewers entertained and keep them wanting to see more of the show. People may think the courtroom are the same as it is displayed on television but it is not correct. The people and the cases might be real and the rulings may be final, but at the end of the day it is only a television series. I witnessed so many things we have learned in this course in both contexts. From the TV shows I noticed that the cases were civil (a legal dispute between two or more parties). In this cases, the plaintiff is the person filling a complaint against the defendant. The plaintiff’s goal is to prove that the defendant caused harm due to their actions and to win remedy ordered by the court. Remedy can be many forms of things such as monetary payments or keep something that has value. When I was in the court observation and I heard burglary the first thing that came into mind was property crime since he entered a
You can see many elements that are common to a courtroom such as, tables and benches made out of wood and are evenly situated among the room. The audience members are more than welcome to sit in the benches in the back facing the judge. There are also two tables and seating for both the defendant and the plaintiff which happens to be angled towards the focus of the judge’s bench. Another comparison that the series showed was the conducting of cross-examination. The judges ask questions to one party and the other party awaits their turn to speak. In some episodes there were informal language being used whereas in a real courtroom it is unacceptable to use profanity or any informal type of language. I also observed that in the television series the judges are very opinionated, brutish, and direct where a judge is seen as wise, professional, and tough. The reason why the court-reality judges act the way they do is because they want their ratings to be high and they want to keep the viewers entertained and keep them wanting to see more of the show. People may think the courtroom are the same as it is displayed on television but it is not correct. The people and the cases might be real and the rulings may be final, but at the end of the day it is only a television series. I witnessed so many things we have learned in this course in both contexts. From the TV shows I noticed that the cases were civil (a legal dispute between two or more parties). In this cases, the plaintiff is the person filling a complaint against the defendant. The plaintiff’s goal is to prove that the defendant caused harm due to their actions and to win remedy ordered by the court. Remedy can be many forms of things such as monetary payments or keep something that has value. When I was in the court observation and I heard burglary the first thing that came into mind was property crime since he entered a