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Court Expereince

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Submitted By tahlia7
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When entering the court, it almost had airport style security. I was some what apprehensive when noticing the security metal detectors then feeling nervous. Everyone is required to place your belongings to be scanned and walk through the metal detectors then receive your items back. This is to protect the public’s safety. Prohibited items (knives, scissors, sprays, cans, tools, etc.) will not be permitted in the court building. Anything that may be a potential risk to the public will be taken away from you before entering and may be returned to you when you leave.

Once I walked through, a police officer asked why my classmate and I were attending court. We explained we were there to do an assignment, from that point he assisted us by explaining the different courtrooms.

Blacktown court had more than one courtroom. There was a printed court list displayed in the foyer near the court entrance. The list presented the name of the case and the courtroom.

Once walking into a courtroom, I was extremely interested and shocked. I haven’t pictured what was reality. It wasn’t as big as I imagined, not everyone was acting respectfully and sitting quiet. I noticed there was continuously people entering and leaving the courtroom loudly not bowing. From all the distraction, I found the experience to be quite difficult to gather all the details.

The courtroom I attended was a traditional wood panelled courtroom. The judge wore a black robe. I noticed the courtroom operated with some formalities such as when speaking you must stand; bowing when entering and leaving the room. Although bowing isn’t mandatory it is to show respect to the court. It is important to not interrupt proceedings, not to take photographs, not to make audio recordings of proceedings and not to speak to or approach any member of the jury. You must refer to the judges or magistrates ‘your honour’ when addressing them. Court proceedings are serious and you are expected to dress appropriately when attending court.

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