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I know the US better than many parts of Germany I read an article years ago from a lawyer (might have been a judge) complaining that, thanks to US TV and movie
by dagw 1y ago
I know the US better than many parts of Germany
I read an article years ago from a lawyer (might have been a judge) complaining that, thanks to US TV and movies, people in Sweden know more about how the US justice system works than the Swedish system. Far too many people just fall back on their US TV knowledge of how they think courts work and that they keep having to explain to the people that, no that's not how things works in Sweden.
- KingOfCoders 1y agoSame with me. I know way too many things about the US justice system - like the difference between prisons and jails, totally irrelevant to my life.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jaimebuelta 1y agoThere was a viral clip of someone in a Spanish court saying “objection!”, and the lawyer saying “that’s in the American systems, in the movies!”
- ecocentrik 1y agoTo be fair, Americans have the same problem. The US justice system does not perfectly mirror the Hollywood justice system and jurors are constantly reminded of this when they're called to serve on US juries.
- FirmwareBurner 1y agoWhat?! Next thing you'll tell me Dr House doesn't mirror the reality of working in healthcare.
- wink 1y agoThey often got the "be an asshole to the patient" part down though.
- sjsdaiuasgdia 1y agoIt's hilarious to watch police body cam footage where an arrested person is screaming that they haven't been arrested properly because it didn't happen the way it happens in movies.
- mvdtnz 1y agoI like the ones who scream "I know my rights" when they absolutely do not know their rights.
- AlecSchueler 1y agoFor some definitions of hilarious. It's arguably terrifying that people are so poorly informed by the people in power.
- whizzter 1y agoWe have very few shows about lawyers/law here because our system is simple (and boring?) enough that there isn't much to make anything interesting about. IANAL but have taken some intro level course (that usually starts with don't think anything from American shows applies). 1: It's rooted in civil law so the written laws(and their precursor political discussions) are first considered, laws are thus fairly broadly written with specifications where needed. So precedents are mostly only used to disambiguate gray areas in terms of applicability or conflicts between laws. (but precedents rulings are in turn are meant to rely on the precursor political discussions before courts can take their own authority on any subject). 2: Intent is given significance, so 2 parties can enter into fairly "sloppily written" contracts that will be legally binding as long as the intent of the contract is clear, they're signed and doesn't violate any laws (there is law specifically targets obviously unfair contracts, but also other laws that regulate specific areas). 3: Criminal prosecution at the primary level is in front of 3 judges, one professional head judge with law degree that knows laws and 2 "laymen" to represent people in general (usually politically appointed to reflect the people via elections), no juries as the role those serve is handled by the laymen judges.
- jimmydddd 1y agoIt's actually pretty boring in the US as well. As an attorney, it's always interesting to see US law school applications increase if a "sexy" legal drama becomes popular on TV. I feel bad for those applicants, because 99% of legal work is not as exciting as on TV, the lawyers don't dress as well as they do on TV, and they definitely do not look as attractive as the ones on TV. :-)
- cardiffspaceman 1y agoAs a juror I saw a Johnny Cochran-like attorney defend against a Marcia Clark-like prosecutor, in the early 21st century. The judge was nothing like Judge Ito though. There was a car chase, there were videos from the scenes, and DNA evidence was criticized unsuccessfully by an “expert.” Isn’t that what they have on LA Law?
- whizzter 1y ago
- cafard 1y agoI have heard of Canadians making the same mistake.