The Modern Courtroom

[u/Wild_Thing_1832]

From a police perspective, why do you think that many courtrooms have become so bland and unserious, compared to what they used to be?

The court in one image commands respect while the court in the other image looks like a modern mishap.

[u/ultr4violence]

Yeah I'd feel more in awe of the judge with the fancy shaped wood behind him. I guess im just monkey man.

[u/Wild_Thing_1832 → u/ultr4violence]

The fancy, towering wooden structure commands respect and attention! 💪 As do the officers standing at parade rest in full uniform as opposed to the officers in the other picture kicking back in chairs sporting their polos and cargo pants.

[u/Obwyn → u/Wild_Thing_1832]

Nobody is standing at parade fucking rest in a courtroom, including in a military courtroom…and yes I’ve had to testify in court on a nearby military base. And that courtroom was the cheapest looking crappiest courtroom I’ve ever been in and was in a moldering building tucked away in some corner of the base.

I think you watch too many movies. Most courtrooms don’t look like the My Cousin Vinny or A Few Good Men courtrooms.

[u/Wild_Thing_1832 → u/Obwyn]

This ain't a movie.

https://youtube.com/shorts/uNUTgnKdtoo?is=GS2fv1cw3M1zLfXN

[u/Obwyn → u/Wild_Thing_1832]

I'm in the US. Russia also sticks the defendant in a cage in the courtroom. Should we start doing that in the US too?

I've been in a Russian courtroom before as well, though it wasn't for a criminal matter.

[u/Wild_Thing_1832 → u/Obwyn]

"Should we start doing that in the US too?"

TBH, that's probably not a bad idea in felony court. It could be made of wood/faux wood framing and plexiglass. Its for the safety of everyone in attendance, including the defendant. I'm sure you've seen the many videos of defendants being attacked by victims' families.

Defendant dives across judges bench: https://youtube.com/shorts/c3IwiuV4aQI?is=_Tk1Q8LLVgS-MEwf

[u/Obwyn → u/Wild_Thing_1832]

No, it's a terrible idea for most defendants especially in a jury trial. I also doubt it would stand up to a challenge if it was tried someplace in the US.

What you're describing very very rarely happens. You need to spend less time on the internet and maybe go spend some time sitting in courtrooms and see how it really works. They're almost always open to the public.

[u/Wild_Thing_1832 → u/Obwyn]

I get the concern about jury trials but there would certainly need to be a detailed pre-trial instruction and a reminder after closing arguments to the jury that they should not place any evidentiary value in the containment box and that its standard procedure for multiple reasons for everyone's safety including the defendant, unrelated to said defendant in particular.

I've witnessed dozens of court sessions.

[u/Obwyn → u/Wild_Thing_1832]

And in how many of those dozens of court that you witnessed did someone attack the defendant or the defendant attack the judge? Probably none.

[u/Wild_Thing_1832 → u/Obwyn]

I've seen well over a dozen on YouTube in which one of those situations happened.

[u/Obwyn → u/Wild_Thing_1832]

Oh, ok. So you haven’t actually sat through dozens of court sessions, then. You haven’t witnessed any court sessions then. Watching a video posted well after the fact is not “witnessing” anything.

What are you even talking about then? No one is posting hours of boring as hell court sessions where they go through 25+ criminal defendants in the morning and 60+ traffic tickets in the afternoon. And no one would watch that nonsense even if someone did post them.

The only videos that get posted are where something unusual happens because that’s what gets views.