Community Court Report

We headed off to the community court at 9 in the morning. Although we have already been there, it was unofficial, and all we did there was sitting on the bench doing nothing. It was our first time officially to tour around the community court and watch the trial. In the morning, it had a drug court session. The judge listened to the situation report from the health care supervisor and the probation officer and congratulated the convicts for their hard work and graduating from one of the drug court programs. I was impressed by the judge because he showed them support sincerely in so many different ways. The drug court’s ambience was also different from the superior court; it was much lighter and supportive. Everyone clapped when the convict returned to his seat after the judge announced the return date to the court. I thought the superior

Then we went to the court again, but this time, it was mental health court. Mental health court functions as a concurrent court – combined form of drug and mental health court – since many people with mental health problems abuse drugs to stop hallucinations. I could tell people who were having mental problems by their hair. Many of their hair were disheveled. Also, they had the empty look on their faces. Furthermore, their reactions were either gloomy or overly excited. Besides, some people were wearing orange uniforms, shackled to the chair. Perhaps they are prospective applicants for the mental health court about to be evaluated. After everyone went through their current situation reports, there was a man who were graduating from the whole mental health program. He received complimentary remarks from everyone and made a speech how he felt grateful towards people who helped him and what he had to go through during the mental health court program. It was touching and I could feel that he had to overcome many obstacles, yet he remained on the way to be defeat his