After half an hour of searching, finally I have the opportunity to observe a court in person for the first time. At the 302nd Family Court in downtown Dallas on the 3rd of Dec, 2013, the case I was observing was a child custody case between Anna Smith and David Smith. The case number as show on the board outside the court is DS-12-08126. Furthermore, the Judge of 302nd Family Court is Tena Callahan.
It was quite an experience when I step inside the Court building and don’t really know where to go. I stopped and asked a security and a court clerk. I was informed that I could walk right in the court as silent and if anyone start asking question just tell them the reason. That is totally new for me as an international student. The case I walked into is a Child custody case between Anna Smith and David Smith. Anna Smith, for what I observe, is a dark skin woman who looks roughly around thirty five to forty. On the other hand, David Smith is gentlemen who looks about forty two to forty five. When I walked in, they are discussing about the truck payment that Anna Smith is in charge of paying when they divorced, and she demand a share from her husband around 60%-40% monthly. The truck was bought in 2010 and it worth $15.000 to $16.000. Next, I observed the attorney on David’s side, Lafleur Eric, was asking question to “lawyer” Anna Smith who was the defendant. When I said lawyer her, I mean he means to ask Anna bunch of question to bring out the guilt, truth, frustration, confuse, and regret in Anna. He cover all of her answer by asking the first question. “Will you be fully understand and truthfully answer my questions under any circumstances? She said yes. When he started asking quite fast and she started confusing. I thought it was t...
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...Anna have a head start from witnesses, and the judge; however, she also have to worry about Eric because he will has some tricks inside his sleeves that he will pull it out. For example, the medication situations, Eric called Dr. Mason and the doctor have informed him that Anna was confusing the medications of Logan lately and she testified it. As long as I know, the chance to raise Logan larger is belong to Anna Smith.
This experience is really interesting for me. To observe the procedure of the court, to see how American system works, to see how government money spent, to see one of the most common case in the United State, and to witnessed something I have never seen with my own eyes before is really interesting. Even though I cannot know what is the answer of the judge about child custody in this case but I have got something out of this helpful assignment.
Procedural History The Supreme Court, Appellate, second division modified the the judgment and ordered that the custody of the youngest child remain with the mother. Husband appealed. The Court of Appeals, Jasen,J; held that after the custody of the two older children had been awarded to the husband, it was appropriate for special term to award of the youngest child to the husband in the light of the younger child’s ambivalence as to which of her parents she would prefer to live with and her strong preference to live with two older
For the purpose of the paper, I will summarize the facts and leading events of the case of Elenita L and Romer N. Fajota. As reading through this trial I discovered that judges don’t always make the right decision for families or individuals. Likely in this case it is presentably true. Elenita and Romer got married in June 2005 and have three minor children together. As their marriage progressed, in the beginning of the year 2006, Romero became physically violent against Elenita. Romer committed various acts of violence against her and stated in court that it continued “even while pregnant with their second child”. But however, from 2006 to 2008 the violence continued against Elenita and her children. As the domestic violence continued, Elenita filed a
According to many the custody of a child should be determined with the best interest of the child in mind. However, it is not easy for a judge to make such an important decision in such a short amount of time with limited information. Smith (2004) stated that, the simple fact of being a mother does not indicate a willingness or capacity to render a quality of care different than that which a father can provide. Some might argue that what Reynolds (2004) calls deadbeat dads, or in other words fathers who refuse to pay their child support, are often times confused with Turnips, who are ex-spouses who can not afford to pay child support. One example of a turnip is a father who is in prison; he is obviously not making money while he is on the inside. Now an example of a deadbeat dad is when the father is enjoying all the finer things in life and he cannot reach far enough into his...
Returning to the judicial world of the Bronx Family Court as a judge, after years of working in administration, Judge Richard Ross is astonished to find a distinctly more disjointed situation than the one he left. As he attempts to live out his life as “both the fact finder and arbiter of the law” it is clear the current judicial system does not serve him well (xv). Judge Ross conveys to the reader the fundamental issues of the Family Court system through his day to day happenings which range from endless caseloads to death threats. The use of personal experience is effective in adding credibility to more clearly convey his point that not only the Judges, but the case workers, 18-B attorneys, and various legal aides are overworked to a point
In conclusion, finding out the truth, the facts, and the goal of justice should be the main purpose of any civil case. Sadly, the judicial process gets in the way. The legal system becomes unjust and in some cases, justice is never served. Seeing the story unfold and reading about the struggle between wealth and power and justice is exciting, yet saddening. The book matters and should be read by all, from people who are studying the legal system to people who are not. It is an emotional and engaging book. It can’t be forgotten. One man can make the biggest difference and finding the truth is much more fulfilling than any riches.
Based on what I saw in the movie I determined I would complete this assignment in the following scenario. Claireece Precious Jones was removed from the physical custody of her mother, Mary Johnston, because of the sexual, physical and emotional abuse occurring in the home. Mary Johnston failed to protect Precious from the sexual abuse by her father, Carl Jones. Ms. Johnston also physically and emotionally abused Precious. In my scenario, Precious was in the custody of New York Department of Child Safety and her teacher, Blu Rain, was fostering her. In this scenario I am a licensed clinical social worker who received Previous’ case. Precious was brought to me by her New York Department of Child Safety Specialist for counseling to
Nature of Case: The plaintiff is Peter Stanley. He said that his rights to equal protection of the law under the 14th Amendment have been violated. He believes that the Illinois law that makes children of unwed father’s wards of the state upon death of the mother violated his rights.
Totenberg, N. (2013, April 16). Adoption Case Brings Rare Family Law Dispute To High Court.
The writer’s main goals was to persuade that mass incarceration is huge problem for the academics of children whose parents are incarcerated. Melinda D. Anderson wrote the article toward the criminal justice system and audience that are against mass incarceration. People who have families that are in jails and unintentional audience who read news regarding this issue. Several different people each day are facing problems regarding incarceration. They’re people who have their parents, brothers, sister in jail. The writer is trying to prove the point that having those people in jail is creating hardship for families and it needs to be stopped. The Students who have their parents in jail is causing them to lose not only their parents but also their life because of that fact without their parents, the children do not have a source of income, which leads to being not able to eat, study or perhaps live in safe
- - -. "United States v. Leon (1984)." The Oyez Project. Ed. Jerry Goldman. N.p., 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
The article is predominantly a court dialogue of the Bradley’s and any witnesses about the alleged abuse from Mr. Bradley against Mrs. Bradley. Providing pictures of strangulation marks, blackened eyes, and witnessed whom Mr. Bradley threatened and or harassed, Mr. Bradley found a rebuttal for each of the claims. The answers that Mrs. Bradley provided Judge for his questions showed how hard it was for her to leave her husband, how scared she and her family were. This article also provides information about voicemails Mr. Bradley left her parents threatening to kill their daughter if they didn’t send her back to his home. The article discusses in detail their treacherous relationship and Mrs. Bradley’s death. The article is from a periodical and was not peer reviewed, however the article is a dialogue from court with no personal opinion from the author. I believe this to be my strongest
Each daycare has their own menu for the children’s breakfast and lunch. Through my observations, I have noticed that the “Don’t Worry Childcare” has a variety of food options throughout the month. For example, the children could either choose from fruit loops cereal, or frosted flakes for breakfast. The snacks eaten varies every day as well. For instance, the children ate milk and cookies one day, and cheese crackers another day. An example of lunch would be, milk, chicken fingers, French fries, green beans, and mixed fruit one day, and spaghetti, corn, peaches, and bread and butter another day. I observed the children eat ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and peaches one day for lunch. All those food options seemed very delicious. Each meal and snack give the children an option to what they would like to drink. For instance, the children can pick
Due to the increased recognized differences between adults and juveniles in terms of needs and developmental capabilities, offender’s treatment differ depending on whether they are treated in an adult or juvenile court. In the adult court jurisdiction, public safety and retribution are the most salient tenets while in the juvenile courts the best the intentions are intended towards the best interest of the child focusing on rehabilitation. The best goals and objectives of the juvenile court sanctions aim at ensuring that the youth in trial at the juvenile court desists from delinquent behavior and thus easy to be reintegrated in the society once more. This fact is mainly achieved through offering the youth individualized case management programs
The sympathy of the government for mothers such as Khaila, trying to recover their parental rights has worn thin. Child abandonment is a serious offense and the children that suffer from such neglect face many psychological problems; if they are ever able to survive their circumstances. The abandonment and neglect of a child can result in serious criminal charges. One striking example is the case of seven month old Daniel Scott (Should We Take Away Their Kids?). Baby Daniel had been left for hours unattended and died of in a pool of his own blood. His mother, a crack addict left him in the care of his father to go on a six day crack binge. His father in turn, left him in his crib leaving the door of their Bronx tenement unlocked for any danger to afflict his unprotected son (Should We Take Away Their Kids?). The parents were later charged with manslaughter by negligence.
The judge was a middle-aged male who looked intimidating and seemed to be well respected. To my surprise, we did not have to stand up when he entered the room. After the judge came out I assumed the jury would follow quickly after. However I quickly learned that there would be no jury for this particular trial. After a few minutes, the handcuffed defendant entered the room wearing an orange prison jumpsuit. He was a middle-aged, African-American male who was involved in a narcotic conspiracy case. In addition to the defendant a probation officer, the prosecutor and the defendant’s lawyer were also present. Aside from me, my classmate and a student from Georgetown the defendant’s wife and sister were in the