I was unaware of how public others' criminal histories are to the community. I had the opportunity to sit in on a court 'session' where about 15 people came from jail and went before the judge to plea not guilty (either for the first time or the 10th time). Without fail they all pleaded not guilty, but there were many interesting things I noticed about the people. The first thing I noticed was that they were all at different stages in their judgments. Some of them were being given a sentence, some of them had just gotten into jail and were getting right back out, one man had been there for a long time and was his own lawyer and a good one at that, and some were acting quite 'unintellingently' for a courthouse situation.
Also, the court hearings represents a whole different language for me. I was listening intently and only understanding about 1/3 of what was being divulged. I felt a little bit uneducated in that moment, so it pushed me to watch some tv...the Casey Anthony trial. I must say that our government has a pretty great judicial system (honestly, no sarcasm intended). I would suggest everyone to go to their community courthouse and sit in on a couple cases. It is quite interesting and overall really sad, maybe even angering, but an experience that I find important.
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