Seat Two

Leeds Magistrate Court 

For the second seat I went and sat in the back of Leeds magistrate court rooms, and observed. Of course it is forbidden to take pictures inside of the courts, so I took a selection of the building from the outside.

The first piece of ephemera I found, a shard of glass from a broken brown bottle. 

The lights inside the building seen through the windows.

Nature growing through the cracks of the structured bricks in the wall.  

Pieces of Ephemera 

1. Shard of glass
2. Shard of red brick
3. torn up letter/writing
4. pen found beside a form left in the waiting room

observations

1. There is a big difference between lawyers and their clients here. 
2. Lawyers appearance is quite different, they all look very formal and swish in their suits. 
3. They know what they are doing, they walk about with assurance. 
4. They feel very organised
5. whereas the clients did not appear to have dressed up at all in a lot of cases
6. they often looked like they had dressed down.
7. A lot wore tracksuits. 
8. They had  more of an air of uncertainty and worry about them. 
9. Both sides feel like they are saying exaggerated versions of the truth.
10. Its that logo above the main panel on the wall, its the same as the one on the green library books!
11. Details and the law are so important here. 

facts

1. The lawyers etc all refer to the judges as your worships
2. They use the same protocol for each case
3. e.g. "perhaps ... could be seated" "yes please sit down" for every single case
4. small details of a persons day can become so relevant and important here. 
5. Most got a fine
6. everything is taken very seriously

Questions

1. Who is being more accurate here?
2. Are you allowed to record sound in the courts?
3. why do some come from behind the box and others through the door?
4. Why don't they penalise them for drug use?
5. Why is that being used as an excuse?