Court Public Gallery - how to do it with my teen

[Just2MoreSeasons]

My Dd is soon to be 14 and I’ve read this is the minimum age to be a member if the public gallery in a court.

I thought it might be interesting to do it as a day out (complete with café etc) as part of a broadening of her education. She has a pretty lose grasp of ‘government’ ‘lawyer’ ‘tax’ ‘mortgage’ etc and I’d like to add in some experiences that would help her better understand (rather than just listening to me blathering on!)

So, how do we do it? We could go to Oxford, Gloucester or London. We’d need to do it on an inset day or during school holidays.

I don’t know if you get to know what the case is in advance - would like to avoid anything with sexual crimes or anything that looks like it would be very fine detail technical law as she’s likely find that too boring.

Do we need to stay for the whole session, or can you quietly leave after an hour? Anyone know of a good book that explains the judicial system that’s good for a teen but not written as if you’re going to be a witness?

Or has anyone got other ideas for adding some insight into government, law, banking etc?

thanks so much

I respectfully disagree. The justice system needs to be open and we need people to watch court cases. That scrutiny is an important safety mechanism.

I have spent far too much time in closed family court. People don't believe some of the outrageous things said by some judges in those courts. And there is noone there to witness it and call it out. It's widely accepted that this is a huge problem.

What do you mean by this? I (clearly naively) thought family court was the only place on earth men drew the short straw!

@Just2MoreSeasons I do agree with another good suggestion on here though, to go and watch a local council meeting. Particularly if they are deciding something like a controversial planning decision.

It has been fascinating listening to the Lucy letby podcast week on week as the case unfolded .

The presenters spoke to those in the legal justice system and they could not stress enough that it is vital the public is involved in being observers of court hearings . It brings transparency and a demystification to the process.

If people do not attend there is a risk the process could become private like the family court which in turn has created an atmosphere of mistrust and a lack of transparency for those who have to enter it .

Yes go. Many youngsters end up working in the legal system if they have been exposed to it .

An Employment Tribunal might also be interesting and will give her some insight into employment rights too. Most young people have no idea.

My son and I went to Prime Minister’s Questionnaire Time and it was marvellous. We both really enjoyed it. Even being in the HoC was spectacular. Your MP can sort this for you for free. We combined it with a tour. Well worth it.

Also important to note that outside school and student visits it isn’t that common for the random member of the public unconnected to a case to attend. They hardly do. We need more members of the public in courtrooms not fewer.

Yes the justice system should be open. Family court is more complex, CBA to get into all that.

But that doesn't make it appropriate for random people to rock up for a nosey, IMO. The op is not going to scrutinise.

Nope.

So many children forced to have relationships with abusive fathers. So many women criticised by judges for trying to keep themselves and their children safe after fleeing abuse.

It's a widely known problem. Louise Tickle has done some great investigative work and there have been some recent documentaries about it (I can't bear to watch them, the memories are still too traumatic for me ).

I agree it would be very complex to open up the family courts , some sort of compromise (independent observers or similar) is probably needed.
But op and her child absolutely can and should go and watch some cases, and the usher I am sure will sensitively suggest some appropriate ones. Open courts mean exactly that.

Absolutely take your daughter, and as possible have said, check with an usher the best place to go. Watching a few sentences might be useful (drugs is a good one as teenagers often dont realise how seriously these are treated). Avoid anything that she'd find upsetting.

Remind her to be respectful, to realise who might be sat next to her - including the family of the defendant. Questions should be asked afterwards. Obviously no phones, no snacks and she needs to control her emotions. No displays of happiness, or sadness or revulsion or boredom. No trying to make eye contact with anyone. Its great foe her to visit, just make sure she knows she's an observer not a participant.

Good luck.

I’m a journalist who works in court OP. I can’t remember the last time I saw a member of the public attending a case who wasn’t connected with it.

Please go along. Transparency is a cornerstone of our justice system.

It might be best for you to go to a court room where there’s a couple of sentencings in a row. It will say ‘for sentence’ on the list. Be warned, the language is often very fruity and the cases can be gruesome, but kids these days see worse on TikTok.

You can view crown court listings on the courtserve website. They go up around 5pm the night before. Some of the names will be googlable so you can get an idea of what they’re in court for. Or if you want to observe a trial, try and go on a Monday morning and you might catch opening speeches.

You could maybe do a tour (or sit in the public gallery) of the Supreme Court
"Visiting The Court - The Supreme Court" https://www.supremecourt.uk/visiting/index.html

Oh god I used to be a journalist and covered lots of court cases. It was quite stressful as the press box was side on to the defendant so they would sometimes tap on the glass to try to get our attention in crown court. I was spat on, saw and heard some horrendous things, and once or twice was threatened both by the defendant and also by the families because everyone stands outside the courtroom together before going in and some of the families of the defendants (and some victims) were rough as anything and very intimidating. I'm not 100% sure I would take my 14yo to court yet unless they had already expressed interest in the legal system.

Very useful reminders about specific behaviours to avoid - Thankyou.

Also for the courtserve website and checking the night before at 5pm.
If attending on a Monday would the list be out at 5pm on Friday (probably a silly question, but still good to know)?

I know that you can't attend a family court (with good reason) and I doubt many of those hearings would be suitable for a teen anyway.

And thanks to those defending my interest in doing this. I was beginning to feel like a bit of a weirdo and a very bad parent. I do think it's important to do it at some point.

I'm also listening to the Lucy Letby podcast so that's also piqued my own interest. If I decide to wait until DD is older then I might just go by myself.

I'm going to make some notes off this thread when I get a minute and draw up some plans.

Great idea about sitting in on a council meeting too.

Thanks for the info. Sorry to hear you had to go through that.

I watched trials at the old Bailey with my friend as a teen. I remember a violent crime and a complex fraud. Neither were boring (fir us) although we didn’t follow all of the fraud. It was more about seeing procedure and the environment was really valuable and trying to weigh up the evidence on the assault etc. My friend is now a QC by the way may be totally unconnected.

I went to the Old Bailey when I was living in London. I was interested to see a court in action.

It was the trial of the 2 children accused of stabbing a headteacher. There was a lot of interest in that case and there were many people in the public gallery.

I was at a Magistrate's Court recently just to get some information on something and I met 2 people who were interested in becoming Magistrates so they sat in the gallery there.