Court Observation

I have attended court hearings in the past, but I found attending the Abbotsford Courthouse on September 25, 2017 a very different experience. Two of the courtrooms were closed to the public due to trials involving children. One was dedicated to traffic court, which I did attend randomly throughout the day, and the last courtroom was dedicated to adult criminal court which I spent the majority of my day in. During the adult criminal court sessions, I found that they took many breaks throughout the 4 hours I attended. I heard the lawyers telling the judge that they had “no more cases at the moment”, and that court would commence in 15 to 20 minutes. This happened 4-5 times. During these breaks is when I found myself attending traffic court to see if there was a case both interesting and large enough to write a paper on. Sadly, there wasn’t.

The judge was not seated in the court room yet – the crown counsel, the court reporter, the court registrar, the sheriff, the defendants, other lawyers and the people viewing the court cases were there. The courtroom was laid out in a way that when you walk through the doors, the first thing you look at is the elevated area at the back of the room where the judge sits. In front of the judge, on a lower platform was the court reporter and the court registrar. In front of them, on flat ground was where the crown counsel was standing. To the left of the crown counsel is the sheriffs desk and the glass box for defendants to be seated in while their case is being heard. As soon as you enter the courtroom, both to the left and to the right is a seating area for the public. As I was seated and writing my notes on the layout of the court room the judge appeared to which we were told to “all