CNN has an interesting video clip on its website. At a hearing arraigning an accused murderer, he apparently smiled in a way that some in the audience didn't like. So a brawl erupted. Now the film is revealing for many things but let me mention a few:
1) There appeared to be no functioning gate or barrier separating the well of the court from the audience: a wide, open, space, not gated, in the Bar and the Bar itself very low. If the Bar had been higher and a gateway there the crowd couldn't have joined in so effectively or quickly. The Bar only has to be raised about 6 inches so it's not very costly
2) Where were the courtroom baliffs?
3) The defense lawyer hid under the table while the Judge shrieked. But the prosecutor waded in and pulled people off the accused. Watch how she did it too. She's not in the middle of things--she's pulling people out from behind and pushing them away so she won't get hit.
Bottom line: learn from this lawyers. And maybe redesign the courtrooms for safety.
Interesting. When I was in college I did an internship at an agency that was comprised of the attorneys who represented children who were wards of the state, and social workers.
I was in a mediation one day with a mother who was trying to get her kids back. All of a sudden she tried to flip the table over on us and screamed that she just wanted her kids back. We were sort of trapped in this little room, but thankfully the mediator knew what to do (besides shriek & cower) and was able to contain her until someone else got there.
That experience definitely taught me to make note of the room and how I'd get out if something like that happened again.
Posted by: Leanna Hamill | July 01, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Good Leanna. But you know, some simple, cheap, design changes would avoid or alleviate a lot of these problems. Things like redesigning the chairs for instance.
Posted by: dzk | July 20, 2009 at 04:32 AM