While the majority of high school students sat through their third day of school, Dr. Ween’s Writing and Thinking group watched the criminal trial of a man accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, facing up to seven years in prison. As part of a grant gifted to BHSEC from the New York State Supreme Court, four Writing and Thinking groups were selected to go on a field trip to watch justice at work. At the New York State Supreme Court, our group learned of the various court positions (a court stenographer types at least 250 words per minute) and that the jury process is immensely time consuming and disparaging. Our group learned of the perseverant efficiency of the court, and the strict regulations protecting everyone involved.
After the Supreme Court tour was complete, our group walked across the street to the New York City Criminal Court and tiptoed into an ongoing trial. Sitting in the very last pew of the audience, we looked on as the district attorney questioned the only witness, the policeman who had found the defendant slumped over on the steering wheel, his car jutting out and facing the wrong direction in a one way street in the wee hours of the morning. It would seem to be obvious that the accused, a nondescript young Caucasian man, who seemed confused and irritated at our presence, was intoxicated or under the influence of some drug while having driven the vehicle. However, so far there was no evidence to prove he was drunk or in fact driving the vehicle, as he had refused to take the breathalyzer test the night of the incident, and no one had seen him driving the car. A video was shown, recorded on the night of the accused’s arrest, of him standing between two policemen reading him his rights. He swaying and cursing, “I wanna lawyer! Where’s my lawyer? Where’s my lawyer?” In the video the defendant refused to take a breathalyzer or blood test. His father sat with us in the audience, in the second row. The district attorney was fast-talking, the judge observant and authoritative, the witness seemed to know surprisingly little, and the accused remained silent throughout.
This is justice. As decided in our writing and thinking class, “Justice is the correct action and decision for a difficult situation”. Yes, but justice’s meaning is also made clear from our prodigious and unrelenting court system. Justice is the simple fact that we try so hard to hold unbiased court proceedings. Our effort, our vigilant effort at gaining justice is, inherently, justice. The jury process is so painstaking and time consuming, yet every American citizen serves their time in the process, and in this way every American citizen strives to achieve justice within this nation. And that is sufficient justice. Justice is partial to the observer, and has far more in common with the noun freedom than the noun prison. Justice is the process, as imperfect humans, to strive for perfection and equality is to gain it. It should be associated not with all the people it has put away to keep the public safe, but the freedom the public has as a result. And our nation (as are many nations) is just in that we strive to do what is right and good for all. One thing justice is not is selfish.