Analysis Of Courtroom 302 By Steve Bogira

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Courtroom 302 provides the reader with a real time view of criminal processing. Steve Bogira begins this work from the earliest moment that a person is entered into the criminal justice system, the arrest. Bogira then takes the reader on a step by step reading tour of criminal processing, following alleged offenders as they progress through the system. Bogira introduces the reader to every character that he follows, sharing with them a background of the character, perhaps in an attempt to garner understanding of the character to the offender. He adds little personal opinion of the characters that may work to bias the reader, he instead simply gives the biographical information and small supporting details. The supporting details are given …show more content…
These men and women come from vastly different backgrounds but share two distinct characteristics they are highly educated and overworked. In Courtroom 302, there are several major issues that are addressed concerning the law and mental health issues. Several dysfunctions that can be seen are more so concerning the law in itself and that is that jails and prisons are simply being used to house offenders and not reform them, as was the original intent. Courtroom 302 also illustrates a court system that is broken, where judges, attorneys and officers are overworked and forced to simply process cases and do not have the time to work in the interest of finding or delivering justice.
The Police Officers that are on city streets serve a dual role, they are the first line of defense for citizens as well as the first encounter that people as their liberties are limited and they enter the criminal justice system. If police officers are more properly vetted, to ensure that they will be a part of the solution and not a further level of the problem they would gain more trust from the people they are sworn to serve. The second vital thing that must happen is a more thorough training program for officers so that they are able to more readily identify if the people they encounter are mentally well or not. If they are able to more readily identify the mental stability of offenders this stands to mitigate further conflict between themselves and the person of

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