In the courtroom

Do you see the large building over there? That's the District Court. It's a court of law. That is, a place where you can get convicted, if you have committed a crime. Shall we look inside?

Here's a fellow that might have done something stupid. He is charged with assault, that is: hitting someone. The actual trial has already started. The judges have done their preparations and studied the case. Now the main proceedings are under way.

Let's go into the courtroom. A lot of people in here! There he is, the person who might have assaulted someone. In here, he is called the defendant. Next to the defendant sits his attorney.

It's her job to assist the defendant, and point out all arguments and circumstances that are to his benefit. Opposite them sits the prosecutor. He works for the government, and has been involved in this case for a long time, since the police began the investigation. It's he who made the decision, that there's a big enough possibility of getting the defendant convicted, for it to be worthwhile to prosecute. Next to the prosecutor sits someone else.

He's the one who got assaulted. He's the plaintiff. It's for him they have the trial. On the other side of the plaintiff sits someone to help him out, who can speak on his behalf. A bit like an attorney, but for the plaintiff.

It's the plaintiff counsel. This time it seems that both the defendant and the plaintiff understand Swedish. If they didn't, there would have been interpreters here, too. Everyone who gets involved in a trial has the right to be helped in their own language. Up front in the middle sit the judges.

The middle one, in glasses is the chairperson, and it's only she who's an educated judge. Three of the others are lay judges. That is, judges that don't have any education in law. Anyone 18 or older, can be appointed to be a lay judge. Their role is to be something like "the voice of the people", making sure that the decisions made by the courts are in tune with society's perception of what's right.

Here in the District Court, the three lay judges have just as much decisive power as the professional judge. But there's a fifth person! That's the law clerk. He normally has, unlike the lay judges, a university degree in law. On the other hand, he doesn't have any say in the court's decision.

Opposite the judges, at the far end of the room, is the public, or the audience. In most court trials, anyone is welcome to observe. But sometimes, the court can decide that there will be no audience. That is called a closed door trial. It could be when the trial is related to very young people, if it concerns a brutal sexual crime, or if the information that will be presented in the trial has to be kept secret for some reason: if it has been classified.

But today the doors are open, so we can listen in to what's happening. Hm, there seems to be some technical problems. The video camera, recording the proceedings isn't working. Oh well, let's take a break while they fix that.