Occasional Reports from the
District Court Trial Docket
Most of our courtwatching is bond hearings. But recently a few of us have been listening to trial sessions in the Upper Marlboro courthouse, usually on a Friday morning, and preparing informal reports of our experiences.
We wish more people would go to court and see this system for themselves. If people only knew, change might come.
Note on the term “loved one” Much in the criminal legal system dehumanizes the people who are arrested, jailed, charged, and much later perhaps tried, convicted, or setenced. Human nature finds it difficult to inflict ruin upon those it recognizes as people. So in Courtwatch PG, in place of the term “defendant,” we say “loved one,” to remind ourselves and others that these are people and that someone loves them. Or if it happens that nobody loves them personally, we at least can love them on principle, and work for fair and decent treatment.