Courtly Candor

When I considered what I would do to experience a side of the community I have not been exposed to, I concluded that visiting the county court would be an enlightening experience for me. I have always found law to be a fascinating subject, but to see it in action was something entirely different. Through this experience I learned a lot about the less privileged side of society here in Utah County. 

Before the session of court began, I sat down in the back of the court room and observed the accused who sat in the stands. For some reason I was shocked to actually see chains and hand cuffs on these people. I thought that that was something one saw only in the movies, but this was real life. As I looked around at these unfortunate souls I wondered what brought them to this point. Was it their background or was it by the influence of someone they knew? I soon learned that while each person’s situation was entirely different, they all shared one thing; none of them had any cultural capital. These poor souls were in situations where they did not have the resources to rise to a better life. One poor woman was homeless and she freely admitted that she had no choice but to steal because it was the only way she could survive! Being homeless left her without any resources but her own choices. Other of the accused had jobs but were influenced by their social capital, or their friends at work. They became addicted to drugs because their friends offered it to them. Hearing their different testimonies helped me to see the importance of having cultural and social capital and how they can help or hurt a person in society.

In my observations before the trial I made some pretty quick judgments. Many people on the stands were drug addicts. Before the proceedings, I overheard one man who fell into this category also had a family. I immediately thought how rude and selfish this man must be to get involved in drugs when he has kids and a wife at home. However, when he stood to give his testimony I was shocked to hear his tale. He shared his sad background and how he got wrapped up in drugs. It was only after this testimony that I realized that I had fundamentally attributed his situation to his personality. I had assumed that he was a selfish man to do this to his family but once I actually heard the poor man’s story I realized that I had committed the fundamental attribution error because it was his situation that got him involved in drugs. This occurred quite frequently throughout the proceedings. I realized the value of a judge hearing a testimony before assigning bail.

In addition to my judgment errors, I noticed that throughout the proceedings the judges or defendants frequently used their privileged background and discrimination in making judgment calls. For example one Hispanic woman had been caught with cocaine in her purse. When the judge turned the time over to the state of Utah, the man at the bar proceeded to totally trash this poor lady. I counted he called her “stupid” at least three times in about a minute. This poor woman was an illegal immigrant and the man at the bar used this against her. He just kept saying how foolish she was to put drugs in her purse and get caught with it! If there had been a White woman up there I am not sure the man would have used such ugly language. This same lady was assigned around $30,000 in bail and from what I could tell most of that was because she was an illegal immigrant. On the contrary a White man shortly after her was also caught with drugs. He, on the other hand was only assigned about $200 in bail. This man had an “honorable” job with the city so it seemed the judge took that into account when assigning bail. This man had slightly more privileged circumstances than the immigrant woman, and it showed in the bail assigned to him. It was sad to see this blatant discrimination between races as well as the use of the bias of privileged circumstances in assigning bail.

Finally throughout the court session I noticed that the accused were all there for varying degrees of crime. There was anything from petty theft to child kidnapping in that room. Through the differences in crime I could clearly see the hierarchy of personal values seep through. The homeless lady stole because, as she said in her testimony, she had no other choice. It was her only way to survive. This woman valued survival over obedience to the law. One woman on the stand however, seemed to value repentance. She had become involved in a life of drugs but when she got to the stand I almost cried for this woman. With tears in her eyes she stood at the podium and expressed her true desire to change and get off of drugs. Although she acknowledged that it clearly was easier said than done, this woman seemed to really value that change. While I did not think that criminals could possibly have personal values, this woman showed me otherwise. Everyone has values and although you may not act on them all the time, they are there.

This experience in a county court session truly enlightened me. My experiences are totally applicable to my classroom as well. If I can acknowledge the importance of cultural and social capital I can better understand why some students will do the things they do. Maybe they will steal a neighbors pencil but perhaps it was because they do not have the resources to become successful at school. I can learn to recognize these kinds of “symptoms” so that I can better help my students. Also if I recognize that I can easily fall prey to the fundamental attribution error it will be easier for me to stop myself before I hurt a student’s feelings or jump to conclusions about the way they behave. Finally if I recognize that not everyone has a life of privilege and that can lead to discrimination, I will be able to prevent hurtful discrimination in the classroom. I can also provide an equitable atmosphere in my classroom so that the underprivileged do not feel left out in my class. I am glad I had this experience so I could learn how to incorporate some of these serious issues into my own classroom learning.