Taking some young guests to court

by M. Monastyrskyj, CELOS researcher

Ontario courtrooms are public, which means anyone can walk in and watch the proceedings. At Old City Hall it is common to see students sitting in on court sessions. On Wednesday November 5, 2008, it was my turn to take a group of young people to court, three of them to be exact: Anne, Percy and Davey. You can read their reports about the visit here.

We agreed to meet at 1:30pm for a 2pm session in courtroom 111. We met early outside the courthouse so that I could tell them what to expect. First, I said they would have to go through a metal detector when they entered the building. Then I pointed out a few things to look out for. I told them about disclosure and said they would probably hear that word a lot. I pointed out that the people with green sashes are justices of the peace while those with red are judges. I briefly explained the roles played by the Crown attorney and duty counsel. I asked if they knew what country gave Canada its court system. Anne knew it was Britain.

At 2, the clerk opened the door and we went into courtroom 111. A few minutes later, another larger group of students sat down next to us. We were in 111 for half an hour. It was the normal 2pm routine. Prisoners appeared by video for a few minutes each and during the occasional delay the court dealt with defendants who were not in custody. Anne made note of the legal terms she was hearing. We did hear the word disclosure a lot.

After half an hour we went next door to 112, also known as plea court because that's where prisoners go to plead guilty. I think there were four men in the prisoners' box. We watched two men plead guilty. One man had stolen some food from a Metro store. He told the judge he was addicted to cocaine. The judge asked him if he had sought treatment. He said he had gone to Narcotics Anonymous. I don't remember the sentence but it was only a few days in jail including time already served. The judge ordered him not to enter any Metro store and to continue going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings. The second man was a student who was arrested after he was caught drinking in violation of a previous court order given after he was found guilty of threatening someone. I don't remember the sentence he was given.

The group of students who had been in 111 with us was also in 112. The judge seeing all the children in court said something about this being "Bring your child to work day." She addressed the adults who accompanied the other students and asked the clerk if there was anything interesting happening in any of the other courtrooms. The judge said "You might have to stick your heads in the doors" to see if anything is going on. The clerk made a phone call and then said there were preliminary hearings in two of the courtrooms on the third floor.

We went upstairs to a small courtroom in which we were very conspicuous. It was a drug case. A police officer was on the stand. The Crown attorney was asking him questions when we arrived. Then the defense lawyer got up and began to ask the officer very detailed questions about his c.v. After a while of this, the judge who had been sitting there seemingly impassive suddenly said in a loud voice: "Are you getting paid by the word?" The defense lawyer tried to explain what he was doing but the judge said that was enough. He said the officer's c.v. would have to stand on its own merits. It wasn't necessary to go over every detail.

Then the judge began to explain in simple language what he was doing. He said that in court there were people who are recognized as experts entitled to give their opinion on certain subjects. He said there are two ways someone can become a court-recognized expert. One way is to have the right academic qualifications. The other is to have experience in the subject. The judge said in his opinion the police officer had enough experience to be recognized as an expert.

As he was saying all this I wondered why he was using such simple language. Surely the lawyers already knew what he was doing. As I was thinking this, the judge said to the lawyers he was explaining this for the benefit of the children in court. He pointed out the Crown attorney who turned around and smiled. A few minutes later, he said in a friendly way, "If you're bored, you can leave at any time." The young people said they weren't bored. In any case, the hearing ended a few minutes later.