Case Study: Reckless Endangerment

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Reckless Endangerment For this assignment students were required to go to a court, either district or county, and observe the events that occur. I decided to go to the Court of Arapahoe County. While I was there I went into many of the courtrooms and watched many cases. I quickly learned how spot on my book was with how the cases go about in real life. Everything that happened in the courtroom followed the same procedures that the Criminal Justice book had in it. During my time at the Arapahoe County Court, I got to experience a trial on reckless driving. This trial lasted for about two and a half hours. Throughout that time the judge barely even talked; I came to realize they are very good listeners. While I sat and observed the trial, I gained more knowledge on how our Criminal Justice System works and how its court protocol is followed. When I drove into the Arapahoe County Court parking lot, I noticed that the two court buildings looked very similar. They were both courthouses so I chose to go into the first one. As I continued walking towards the entrance, I instantly realized the security the courts have that each individual has to go through. It reminded me of Denver International Airport. I had to remove all my accessories including my belt, watch, and even my hoody and then I had to walk through a metal detector. While I walked through, my belongings went under an X-ray machine. After doing so, I was cleared to go on my way into the courthouse. On my left were two televisions that showed all the dockets being handled on that day. Dockets are a list of cases that are waiting for trial. As I stood there staring at the screens I noticed that they displayed the courtroom number, the people involved in the hearing, and the t... ... middle of paper ... ...ng to have to report to sentencing. Without a doubt, the courtroom observation was far more entertaining and provided a great deal of information compared to my recent ride-along. What I had read in the book and what I had learned in the class was all very accurate. Each one of the steps shown in chapter eight on page 292 were followed by the Arapahoe County Court. After watching over two hours of a trial, I am now more educated and confident in my knowledge on how courtroom procedures go about. By the end of the trial I was glad I got the experience and was able to watch such a vivid incident. By seeing the pictures presented by the prosecutor, I am certain that later on in my career I will be required to deal with very outrageous cases. The experience went by faster than it seemed and gave me a greater respect towards the roles of each professional courtroom actor

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