Examples Of Court Observation

For the court observation assignment, I visited the Tolland County Courthouse. I went to court on Tuesday April 4th, 2017 from 11am to 12:30pm. The matters I observed in the courtroom regarded a restraining order from an ex-girlfriend to her ex-boyfriend. The details involved in the case included the welfare of their three-month-old baby and the custody battle.

When we arrived at the location, we struggled to make sure we were parking in the correct location. The sign at the nearest parking lot said the parking was for “court business”. We weren’t sure what “business” was defined as. To ensure we were in the correct place we called the courthouse for confirmation. Walking into the courthouse was intimidating. There were two security guards

The conversation seemed more casual with the judge because the couple has been there before. Both the man and woman fought back and forth, and the security guard found it comical because of how immature they were acting. As the conversations continued, the guard was laughing. I was surprised by how relaxed the conversations were with the judge. The woman interrupted the judge multiple times and showed messages on her phone as evidence. The woman was on her phone while the judge was speaking. The man had paperwork, and hard copy evidence that seemed more professional; He addressed the judge as “your honor” and said “if I may” when showing evidence. The attire of the woman was extremely casual, sweatpants and a sweatshirt, looking like she just rolled out of bed. That was also surprising because in a situation like a custody battle, I would assume the mother would want to make herself look presentable and taken care of. It was interesting how the judge discussed her thoughts with the two people. She told them they needed to act like adults. The topics of discussion included the health of their baby boy. The alcohol consumption of the father was questioned because of his drug history. The mother was concerned about that. The judge brought up the controversy that both grandmothers are overstepping in the child’s life. One problem that arose was the woman’s mother tried to get the father