Court is in session

Date: 26th Feb 2019 @ 2:24pm

All Rise!

Yesterday (25th February) 5W were fortunate to visit the Manchester Crown Courts to take part in a role play session to learn about how the British justice system works. We got the opportunity to initially ask lots of questions about the workings of the court ranging from how we define anti social behaviour, all the way through to why we no longer have the death penalty in this country. The children were particularly interested in the attire of the barristers and judges and why they had to wear wigs and robes.

We then got to take part in our very own mock trial with the children playing all the various roles within the court including judge, jury, solicitors, barristers, witnesses and defendant. Our case was that of a fictitious 12 year old called Tommy Peel, who had been the subject of an anti social behaviour order for playing loud music and fighting with and intimidating his neighbours. Witnesses and defendants were cross examined, statements were taken and evidence presented. Ultimately, under the watchful eye of our judge, Tommy was found guilty of breaching his noise order and was sentenced to take part in some intervention sessions to understand the impact his behaviour had upon his neighbours (as well as having to wear headphones when he plays his music in the future).

The children were a real credit to Mount Carmel throughout the day and we had a very enjoyable and informative morning in court room 16.