Personal Narrative: My Visit To The Courthouse

At this age, most people have never even stepped foot in a courthouse. I think everyone should visit the courthouse and sit in on a trial, it’s a great learning experience especially for student’s. I think it’s interesting that anyone can sit in a on trial and see how everything works. A defendant or plaintiff will be there for a trial, where they may view the courthouse as a serious situation that could be life-altering. Civilians could be there for jury duty and find it to be tedious and boring. My visit to the courthouse was an experience I will not forget, from the small courtrooms, to the intense Judges. Going into the Courthouse I had expectations on what I would see and hear. Until this assignment, I had never once been in a courthouse.

I had never really seen a courthouse in person until this time. I was not surprised by the design of the exterior of the courthouse when walking up to it. It included the Greek style columns with a symmetrical, square design, which is the stereotypical look for courthouses. Another surprise for me at the courthouse was mood while in the courthouse. The mood was dark, quiet and almost creepy. I have only seen them on television which doesn’t express their size or layout. When walking into the courthouse I read all the signs because I had no idea where to go. Every trial I sat in was on the first floor which was the civil law/cases floor. Ground floor was the library and reception area. I did go and check out the library, the books in there are massive. So many different volumes to the same book, shelves after shelves. The trials I sat in were in very small courtrooms, I did go and see the larger ones which were very intimidating to me. The three courtrooms I was in were just big enough for the judges, defendant, plaintiff, interpreter, receptionist, police officer, and one bench for civilians to sit. Each courtroom was unique. Having more courtrooms is more efficient at the district court level compared to having larger courtrooms. The overall layout of the courthouse was a completely new

Like I mentioned before I went to three different trials on two different days. What is crazy about this is that the first trial I went to on Tuesday the 20th was actually the same case on Thursday the 22nd. This case started at 8:00 A.M. Tuesday morning and was still going on Thursday when I arrived and continued to go after I left. I don’t know for sure but I believe it was still going on Friday. Sadly, enough this case was about family members fighting over money and possessions of a deceased family member. In this case the attorneys were getting very heated up and it got very intense in the room. I felt a little uncomfortable just because I don’t like seeing fighting or arguing. During the time, I was in there they took intermissions and discussed issues in separate rooms. Everything was orderly, and everyone always knew what was going on. I was not the only civilian siting in the room listening to this case. The second case was the complete opposite to the first one; short, simple and was over very