Chapter 5
The Dynamics of Courthouse Justice
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Have a general sense of who works where in the courthouse.
2. Analyze the importance of assembly-line justice.
4. Identify the principal actors in the courtroom workgroup.
6. Contrast differing understandings of why delay is a problem in the courts.
8. Explain why law in action approaches to court delay are more effective than law
on the books approaches.
LESSON PLAN
Correlated to PowerPoints
I. The Courthouse and the People Who Work There
Learning Objective 1: Have a general sense of who works where in the
courthouse.
A. Courthouses are places where you find lawyers arguing before juries, talking
to their clients, and conversing with one another.
B. Courthouses also employ numerous non-lawyers who perform vital roles.
Without clerks and probation officers, bail agents and bailiffs, courthouses
could not function.
C. Ordinary citizens also perform important roles in the courthouse.
D. The Courthouse
i. Early American courthouses were simple structures with “plain
furnishings and finishes” (Sahoo, 2006, p. 9). But by the mid-1800s,
ii. Today, courthouses in the United States “come in a myriad of designs,
from centuries-old stone fortresses to modern-day, multi-floor monolithic
towers, from the one-room council chambers to the abstract designs of
the creative architect” (Zaruba, 2007, p. 46).
iii. The locations of courthouses vary dramatically as well.
iv. In the modern era, court security concerns drive courthouse design,
renovation, and function.
E. The Courtroom
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i. What is happening inside the courtroom is best viewed in terms of sets of
actors who congregate in different locations. Included are: the judge; the
F. Behind the Scenes
i. Behind the individual courtrooms are areas where much of the paperwork
takes place. Courts have a huge paperwork bureaucracy which is almost
never visible, but their inaction can make headlines.
ii. In many jurisdictions there are three distinct sets of court managers—
clerks of court, chief judges, and court administrators. These three
positions are often in competition with one another for control of the
court.
iii. One of the most innovative approaches to solving court problems has
been the creation of a professional group of trained administrators to
assist judges in their administrative duties. In the years since this position
was established, court administration has become increasingly
professionalized (Aikman, 2006).
Class Discussion/Activity 1
Ask the students to list all of the names of the people who work in the
courthouse, both in court and behind the scenes. Make a list of all of these actors
at the front of the room where everyone in class can see it. Ask students which
profession they would prefer and why.
Class Discussion/Activity 2
How does television portray the courtroom differently than it is in reality? Are
there any other television shows you can think of besides Law & Order that
provide an inaccurate view of the courts? Are there any television shows that
provide a more realistic view? If so, are there any ways in which they are still
inaccurate?
See Assignments 1 and 2
II. Courthouse Security and Changing Technologies
A. On a typical morning you will find long lines of jurors, witnesses,
defendants, and litigants waiting to enter the courthouse.
B. Metal detectors guarding courthouse doors are an ever-present reminder of
how threats of violence have altered American society.
C. Targeted Acts of Violence in Courts
i. Operating a court building today is by its very nature a risky business.
Governmental buildings, court houses included, represent important
symbolic targets for terrorist groups.
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ii. Beyond the changing technology of courthouse security is a changing
D. Security Beyond the Courthouse
i. Courthouse employees face safety risks even when not at work and
frequently must take steps to mitigate their changes of victimization.
ii. Judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are particularly at heightened
risk.
III. Dynamics of Courthouse Justice
A. A brief tour of the courthouse indicates that justice is very unlike the
dramatizations one sees on TV or in the movies. We find that decisions are
not necessarily clear-cut, and unlike what we see on TV, there is a great deal
of cooperation among judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.
B. Assembly-line justice explains why few cases receive individual treatment.
C. We find that decisions, although guided by law, are not totally determined by
rules found in statutes or court decisions.
D. The courtroom work group concept stresses the importance of the patterned
interactions of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys.
IV. Assembly-Line Justice
Learning Objective 2: Analyze the importance of assembly-line justice.
A. The concept of assembly-line justice stresses the high volume of cases in
courthouses and the emphasis on moving the docket.
B. Strengths of the Explanation
i. Assembly-line justice accounts for some realities of law in action, such as
the large case volume, overworked officials, and the application of mass-
production techniques like specialization in coping with large caseloads.
C. Weaknesses of the Explanation
i. Assembly-line justice fails to account for considerations such as
excessive caseloads hardly being a modern phenomenon, the types of
cases trials must decide (routine administration), organizational
relationships, and local legal culture.
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See Assignments 3 and 4
V. Discretion
Learning Objective 3: Describe why discretion is found in the criminal courts.
A. Law on the books projects an image of a mechanical process that runs by
itself, law in action emphasizes discretion and choices.
B. The Downside of Discretion
i. Discretion is exercised by actors throughout the criminal justice system
as decisions are made. Discretionary decision may be made based on
legal factors, policy priorities, or personal values and attitudes.
ii. While discretion may improve the functioning of the criminal justice
system, it also provides opportunities for abuse.
iii. In most cases, discretion is not used inappropriately; however, it can
produce disparities based on social and personal demographics.
How might discretion be abused at the different decision points on the chart? If
abuse is likely at these decision points, why is discretion allowed?
Media Tool
Read the information about discretion in the criminal justice system:
What If Scenario
What if you were a prosecutor who had been handed a case from the police to
prosecute a woman who mutilated her husband’s reproductive organ after he
physically and sexually abused her for years, and also admitted to having cheated
on her numerous times. The woman claimed that she took the drastic action
against her husband after he brutally raped her after coming home from a bar, and
there was concrete evidence to support her claim. Would you file charges against
her?
What If Scenario
If you were a defense attorney, would you defend a foreign national who had been
charged with human trafficking and sex slavery? He had been convicted of similar
crimes in the past and had done time in prison twice. You have two teenage
daughters yourself. He offered you cash for your service. What would you do?
Why? Be sure to consider legal ethics when making your decision.
See Assignment 5
VI. The Courtroom Work Group
Learning Objective 4: Identify the principal actors in the courtroom work group.
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A. Mutual Interdependence
i. The courthouse is a collection of separate institutions that gather in a
common workplace. The courtroom actors cannot perform their tasks
independently—they must work together.
B. Shared Decision Making
i. Courtroom work groups reflect shared decision making, which is highly
functional because of its diffusion of responsibility.
C. Socialization
i. Through socialization, newcomers are taught both the formal
requirements of the job and informal rules of behavior from their peers
D. Normal Crimes
i. Although each case is unique, most fall into a limited number of
categories and can be disposed of on the basis of a set pattern. Normal
crimes essentially represent a group sense of justice.
E. Rewards and Sanctions
i. Rewards are available as benefits to those who follow the rules, while
sanctions can be applied to those who do not cooperate.
F. Variability in Courtroom Work Groups
i. While there are patterns in how courtroom work groups operate, there are
important variations, such as work group stability, mavericks, policy
norms, and delay.
Class Discussion/Activity 3
Discuss the role of shared decision making in courts. Does this violate the principles
of the adversary system because cooperation among the courthouse actors may
translate into a culture where defendant’s rights fail to have any real meaning?
Class Discussion/Activity 4
Visit your local courthouse with your students and observe court in session. Ask
them to identify as many instances of the following as they can: mutual
interdependence, shared decision-making, socialization, normal crimes, and rewards
and sanctions.
See Assignments 2 and 6
VII. The Problem of Delay
Learning Objective 6: Contrast differing understandings of why delay is a
problem in the courts.
A. Consequences of Delay
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i. Concern that “justice delayed is justice denied” is as old as the common
law itself. Today, judicial reformers and critics argue that case delay
undermines the values and guarantees promised by the legal system.
ii. Some see delay as a problem because it works to the disadvantage of the
B. Assessing the Costs of Delay
i. In 1978, the National Center for State Courts sponsored a landmark study
on the problem of delay in criminal cases. This study found that, while
court delay could cause jail overcrowding and skipping court
appearances, there is no support for delay causing case deterioration or
increased pressure to plea bargain.
Class Discussion/Activity 5
What are the problems of delay for the courts regarding the following people:
defendants; society; citizens; and victims? Can you think of anyone else negatively
affected by court delays? How can courts best address this problem?
See Assignment 7
VIII. Law on the Books Approach to Court Delay
Learning Objective 7: Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of speedy-trial
laws.
Learning Objective 8: Explain why law in action approaches to court delay are
more effective than law on the books approaches.
A. The law on the books approach to court delay focuses on resources and
procedures: adding judges, prosecutors, clerks, and so on. Beyond adding
emphasize the need to streamline procedures.
B. This conventional wisdom about court delay has been called into serious
question (Church, 1982; Gallas, 1976). In Justice Delayed (Church et al.,
C. These findings explain why the law on the books approach—issuing more and
more rules and regulations—is often ineffective in speeding up case
dispositions and reducing excessive caseloads. Speedy-trial laws are a case in
point.
D. Speedy-Trial Laws
i. Speedy-trial laws are federal or state statutes that specify time limits for
bringing a case to trial after arrest.
E. Limits of Speedy-Trial Laws
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i. Without adequate resources, however, speedy trials are doomed to
failure. Overall, researchers stress that law in action approaches to
reducing court delay are ultimately more effective.
What If Scenario
What if you are asked to support a constitutional amendment to remove the right to a
speedy trial from the Bill of Rights? How would you respond to such a request? What
consequences would result if defendants had no right to a speedy trial?
See Assignments 1 and 4
IX. Law in Action Approach to Court Delay
Learning Objective 8: Explain why law in action approaches to court delay are
more effective than law on the books approaches.
A. Law on the books approaches to reducing court delay are ineffective because
they ignore the dynamics of courthouse justice. Delay is related not to how
many cases a court must process but to the choices that the actors make in
how they process these cases.
B. Thus, law in action approaches to reducing delay seek to alter practitioner
attitudes about case processing times, improve case scheduling and achieve
better coordination among courtroom work group members.
C. Case Scheduling
i. Case scheduling is a challenge in the extremely complex court system,
C. Efforts at Coordination
i. Courts are comprised of agents from several organizations. Judges and
court administrators have only limited control over coordinating
interagency schedules and cooperative efforts.
D. Variability in Courtroom Work Groups Revisited
i. Courtroom work groups have their own culture, such as hierarchical, with
a clear chain of command, or communal, valuing communication and
X. Legal Ethics
Learning Objective 5: Indicate why ethics is important to the American legal
system.
A. Lawyers often suffer from a negative public image, which is one reason the
legal profession places so much emphasis on legal ethics. The term ethics
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refers to the study and analysis of what constitutes good or bad conduct
(Pollock, 2019).
B. Legal ethics is of critical importance because the American legal system is
based on the adversarial system, which stresses verbal combat. At heart, legal
C. Regulation of the legal profession begins with codes of legal ethics and
professional responsibilities. The American Bar Association (ABA) adopted
the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 1983, which it updates
periodically.
D. Law students are required to take a course in legal ethics, and before they can
be admitted to the bar, they must pass a separate test on legal ethics.
E. The primary responsibility for establishing and enforcing professional
standards of conduct for the legal profession rests with the highest court of
each state.
F. The typical remedy for legal mistakes made during the trial is an appellate
Media Tool
Read the editorial in The New York Times titled Judicial Conduct Unbecoming,
published on April 7, 2012:
See Assignments 8, 9, and 10
KEY TERMS
assembly–line justice: The operation of any segment of the criminal justice system with such
speed and impersonality that defendants are treated as objects to be processed rather than as
individuals.
clerk of court: An elected or appointed court officer responsible for maintaining the
written records of the court and for supervising or performing the clerical tasks necessary
to conduct judicial business.
courtroom work group: The regular participants in the day-to-day activities of a
delay: Abnormal or unacceptable time lapses in the processing of cases.
discretion: The authority to make decisions without reference to specific rules or facts.
legal ethics: Code of conduct for people in the profession of law.
normal crime: Categorization of crime based on the typical manner in which it is
committed, the typical social characteristics of defendants, and the types of victims.
routine administration: A matter that presents the court with no disputes over law or
fact.
LECTURE NOTES
Most students are somewhat familiar with the elements of a courtroom. First, ask students
where they have gained their impressions about courtrooms. Have your students discuss
their visual understanding of what a courtroom is like and then determine if it is similar to
what the book describes. Focus on having your students visualize the courtroom and
begin adding the members of the courtroom work group.
Discuss the courtroom work group and who the key actors are within this group. Discuss
how each person has an element of importance within the courtroom, as well as the duties
each person potentially performs. Discuss the judges, prosecutor, bailiff, defense
Identify the impact of the focus on security (following terrorist attacks including 9/11)
has impacted the lives of the people in the courtroom. How has this perhaps affected the
problem of delay and consequently the affects delay has on the prosecutor, defendants,
financial costs, and any other people or areas affected by delay.
Discuss how history has accepted the concept of assembly-line justice, and where you see
it going in the future of the court system. Discuss the differences between law on the
books and law in action. Law in action has proved to be an efficient way to deal with
delay, because it focuses on coordinating the activities of the key actors in the
courthouse.
The effectiveness and fairness of discretionary decision making, assembly-line justice,
POSSIBLE DISCUSSION POINTS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Students will have different preferences. Students should identify specific reasons
2. Portrays the courtroom in a much more adversarial light than what is seen in a real
3. Students should explain who the courtroom actors are (judge, prosecutor, defense
attorney, and defendant) and what role they play. Some students may argue that
cooperation between members of the courtroom work group prevents defendants
4. Students should be able to see instances of each area of courtroom work group
5. Problems of delay may include jeopardizing defendants’ rights, increased costs to
society, increased danger for citizens, and lack of justice for victims. Other persons
ASSIGNMENTS
1. “Courthouse Security”
2. “Courts, Law, & Media”
• Criminal Justice Degrees website
• Assignment: Have students watch an episode of one of the shows available on
the website. Students should take notes regarding the differences that stand
out in the television show as compared to what the chapter describes in a real
3. Describe assembly-line justice. Is it a problem? Why or why not? Explain your
4. Find a criminal court case in your local court records that went to trial. How long did
it take for the case to go to trial? Did the defendant receive a speedy trial (based on
your local laws)? Determine if there was any significant harm placed on a victim
5. What is discretion in the courtroom? Who has discretion, and how is it expressed? Is
it possible to remove discretion? If so, would it be a good idea? If not, why not?
6. “Courts, Controversy, and Gender Equity”
• National Association of Women Judges website
• Assignment: Have students read the 2014 data regarding the percentages of
7. What are the different explanations for delay in the courts? Which explanation
makes the most sense to you? Which explanation has the most support? Are they the
same? Why do you think the similarity/difference exists? Make a PowerPoint
8. Why is legal ethics important to the American legal system? What is the most
common response to a breach of ethics? What other responses are possible? Answer
9. Identify a prosecutor or defense attorney in a courthouse in your area. Research one
10. “Legal Ethics”
• American Bar Association website
• Assignment: Assign students to locate and research the ABA’s Model Rules
of Professional Conduct. Locate your state’s code of professional conduct for
attorneys, and research what types of ethical violations are the most common
in your state. How do the rules differ? How are they similar?