Juvie

This month for our Leadership program, the assignment was to visit court or ride with a policeman for the evening. I really wanted to ride with a cop, but decided to visit Juvenile Court and to take LO as she aspires to be a defense attorney when she grows up, possibly going on to be a judge later.

I wrote to the principal for permission for LO to miss school, excused, for this educational field trip, and she granted it. LO has to write a report on what she learned and make up any work she missed.

Court started at 9am and we had to have her back to school by 10:30. As it turns out, an hour and fifteen minutes was "aplenty." I'm not sure how much more I could have absorbed.

Two of my Leadership classmates attended this same session; we ran into each other there at the courthouse, so we sat together. They are two whom I really care for, and I was glad we shared the experience.

Without sharing too much, I will give a brief listing of some of the things we saw in just a little over an hour.

• We saw a case where the defendent was so young the attorney asked for a psych eval to see if he was mature enough to understand his wrongdoing and the consequences he faced. The judge agreed. His height was just a little above, say, my waist.
• We saw a 15 year old young woman who got into a fight at the high school because a girl was talking ugly about her baby's daddy. She attacked the girl in the guidance office. She kicked the other girl in the stomach.
• We saw a girl the same age as LO (12) who has been smoking marijuana for 3 years. She is dating a 15 year old fellow who has an outstanding charge for possession. The girl is charged with selling on the bus (felony).
• We saw a boy in the 8th grade who has been smoking marijuana since he was 9. He regretted his actions because he was kicked off the football team.

The judge demonstrated amazing talent at getting the story out of the youths. They would obscure, lie, and gloss over. He stuck with it and got the story out. He had a way of knowing when there was more to it than being told. I guess it comes from seeing it every day.

At one point, he was so exasperated with a parent, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. I knew he was searching for the words -- he did not want to ask this parent, "How stupid can you be?" I chuckled and LO asked me what was funny. I told her we would talk later.

LO closely watched the defense attorneys, many of whom were court-appointed. She would remark, "This guy is good," or other comments as they made their pleas for their clients.

In retrospect, I am so glad we shared this experience. I look forward to seeing what she writes for the report. The spectre of this experience has been hanging over me for 24 hours now, and it was just an hour and a quarter.