5 ms·

I found my way to court feeds (namely Judge Middleton's[1]) during Covid. Incidentally i'm listening to Aug 19's proceedings now. Seeing these specific clips go

I found my way to court feeds (namely Judge Middleton's[1]) during Covid. Incidentally i'm listening to Aug 19's proceedings now. Seeing these specific clips go viral feels like a microcosm of modern consumption habits. There is so much to learn about the legal system and, more broadly, about the nature of people in trying circumstances watching court proceedings. The pureness of exchanges and the total lack of editorial bias is refreshing and too hard to find these days. I have a theory that if more people watched court proceedings (daily misdemeanor, not just OJ/Floyd cutups), political opinions might shift toward humanizing both the accused and the victims. 1: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8gM5S889oBPyN6K07ZC6A/videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS8gM5S889oBPyN6K07ZC6A/vid...

mct 5y ago
Thanks for the link! Are there any other court feeds you've found interesting?
nickff 5y ago
>"I have a theory that if more people watched court proceedings (daily misdemeanor, not just OJ/Floyd cutups), political opinions might shift toward humanizing both the accused and the victims." There has been a lot of work on this, showing that people's reactions to newspaper stories about court cases are polarized, but similar people on juries generally find common ground. I don't have any citations handy, but I'm sure they're easy to find.
dougmwne 5y ago
Thanks, that's quite interesting. Video conferencing does seem to hold a lot of potential for these kinds of proceedings. I imagine it would allow for a much more efficient use of the court's time. But Zoom seems like an absolutely terrible tool and the court has been abysmally trained on it's proper use. It looks like a big missed opportunity for Zoom and a big unmet need. The stream I watched was a landlord-tenant dispute hearing. It was sad to hear people's pretty desperate circumstances, but also fascinating to learn just how long a leash the court might give you on debt and eviction if you know how to work the system, as some tenants and the anti-homelessness orgs helping them seemed to understand. We have a pretty weird system all in all, patch after patch on this "Capitalism OS."
mc32 5y ago
And then you have cases like State of Georgia Vs. Denver Fenton Allen. (Adult Swim did a re-enactment it was so salty)
- nieve 5y ago
  I'm not sure I'd consider death threats aimed at children just "salty"? https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulgar-courtroom-exchange/HdGhOUUitjOngl6G6g3Q6K/ https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulg...
  - mc32 5y ago
    Quite right; however, the magistrate didn't have any children, so it was like saying "I'll crush the moon" or something similarly empty.
  - bmn__ 5y ago
    Site is geoblocked. Mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20210901155230/https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulgar-courtroom-exchange/HdGhOUUitjOngl6G6g3Q6K/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210901155230/https://www.ajc.c...
- bmn__ 5y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vN_PEmeKb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vN_PEmeKb0

mct 5y ago

Thanks for the link! Are there any other court feeds you've found interesting?

nickff 5y ago

>"I have a theory that if more people watched court proceedings (daily misdemeanor, not just OJ/Floyd cutups), political opinions might shift toward humanizing both the accused and the victims." There has been a lot of work on this, showing that people's reactions to newspaper stories about court cases are polarized, but similar people on juries generally find common ground. I don't have any citations handy, but I'm sure they're easy to find.

dougmwne 5y ago

Thanks, that's quite interesting. Video conferencing does seem to hold a lot of potential for these kinds of proceedings. I imagine it would allow for a much more efficient use of the court's time. But Zoom seems like an absolutely terrible tool and the court has been abysmally trained on it's proper use. It looks like a big missed opportunity for Zoom and a big unmet need. The stream I watched was a landlord-tenant dispute hearing. It was sad to hear people's pretty desperate circumstances, but also fascinating to learn just how long a leash the court might give you on debt and eviction if you know how to work the system, as some tenants and the anti-homelessness orgs helping them seemed to understand. We have a pretty weird system all in all, patch after patch on this "Capitalism OS."

mc32 5y ago

And then you have cases like State of Georgia Vs. Denver Fenton Allen. (Adult Swim did a re-enactment it was so salty)

nieve 5y ago
I'm not sure I'd consider death threats aimed at children just "salty"? https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulgar-courtroom-exchange/HdGhOUUitjOngl6G6g3Q6K/ https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulg...
- mc32 5y ago
  Quite right; however, the magistrate didn't have any children, so it was like saying "I'll crush the moon" or something similarly empty.
- bmn__ 5y ago
  Site is geoblocked. Mirror: https://web.archive.org/web/20210901155230/https://www.ajc.com/blog/legal/georgia-judge-loses-over-vulgar-courtroom-exchange/HdGhOUUitjOngl6G6g3Q6K/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210901155230/https://www.ajc.c...
bmn__ 5y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vN_PEmeKb0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vN_PEmeKb0