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Essay On Criminal Court Observation

1245 Words5 Pages

Throughout my life, I have made it my utmost duty to never appear in front of a judge under any circumstances. On April 12, 2017, I visited the Queens criminal court located on 125-01 Queens Boulevard Kew Gardens, NY 11415 and found myself sitting in the last bench seat available. The reason for be being there was to collect as much information as possible on the number, race, approximate age, gender, charge and disposition of each case. Please note that these individuals are ordinary citizens like me, who were arrested for low-level crimes (violations and misdemeanors) in NYC. The data collected would help me write a three page paper on my experience there and help me relate to the online readings in class. During my 90 minute visit to the Queens criminal court I noticed many issues that need to be fixed. Our courts handle many cases and they do not take the right amount of time to investigate each case. Most of the defendants were pleading guilty and some of them spoke to the judge to accept the plea but they looked like they did not know what was going on. While I was waiting on line to get in I also notice that some of these individuals might have some mental issues. Some of them …show more content…

Some of the defenders had two or three cases in the same courtroom. Many of the defendants were minorities and it seems like they were not able to afford a private lawyer. While many public defendants are very good some of them have so much work that they can’t dedicate enough time in to each case and this is one of the reasons why I saw so many defendants pleading guilty in court. Many of the public defendants I observed today looked like they were just ready to finish this case and move on to the next one. I feel like this is a big issue because they make tempting offers to defendants and they take the plea without really understanding the

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