Connections+To+Courthouse+Fieldtrip

Field Connection-Allan
On the field trip, the Speaker said something about a pyramid with the Court System. the lowest level is the district court, than circuit courts, than appeals, and finally the Supreme Court. The Fells Acres Day Care case went through the same court system as the one he mentioned on the tour. The hearing happened in the district court and eventually it went all the way to the Supreme Court.
 * [[image:http://www.courts.state.md.us/kidspage/pyramid.gif align="center" caption="Court System Pyramid"]] ||

=Tuesday Field Trip to Moakley Courthouse- Philip=

What I found most interesting about the Moakley Courthouse was its design. Despite being built rather recently (1998), the creators opted to retain a more traditional feel for the building. The most obvious piece of evidence pointing towards this choice is the bricks used to build the outer walls of the courthouse. Still, I can't help but question this design preference. With the rest of the courthouse looking so modern, why did they bother incorporating any traditional designs at all? Why not make it all modern to receive a newer age and a newly upcoming millennium? Was it to please the judges, whom mostly over 50 years of age, would appreciate such traditional styles? I don't know. By the way I think the stupid colored rectangular panels were the biggest waste of money in history. Even I, with my pathetic artistic skills, could manage something at least 10 times creative. Why waste 800,000 dollars on simple shapes???

What I also appreciated about the design of the courthouse was the apparent emphasis on equality. The wall that had the names of every contributor to the construction of the courthouse had names of equal size, placing someone such as Justice Byron at the same level of someone who shoved bricks into walls. This proved that the Moakley project was a collaboration between all sorts of people and every person's contribution, no matter how minor, was critical to success. Good stuff.

Moakley Courthouse Connections- Cameron
The Moakley Courthouse was an interesting place. I enjoyed the field trip. Like Philip said, the layout of the place was very interesting. I liked how the names on the plaque of everyone who helped build the courthouse is equal. No name is bigger than others. It shows equality. The layout of the courtroom promotes equality too. The witness sits directly across from the jury, so they will be eye to eye. When the lawyer stands up, s/he will be on the same level as the judge. Equality is big in this place.

The Moakley Courthouse can connect to our project. Our cases went to high levels of the court. While they may not have passsed through the Moakley Courthouse, they passed through courts on the same level and above. It goes back to what Allan mentioned. Our tourguide talked about the triangle/pyramid of the court system. I take that away from the field trip. It helped me better realize the structure of the judical system and where cases may go.

The structure of the courtroom may end up being very beneficial for children, in my opinion. The children don't have to face the criminal. I don't think it would be in the best interest of the children for that to happen. In the new layout, the criminals/witnesses are off to the side. The kids can face them, if they so choose but they can also look away. I think that's great. No need for a kid to go through that pain again. The face of the criminal reminds them of pain/trouble. Why bring that on them again?