Hawilo et al. on How Culture Impacts Courtrooms

Maria Hawilo, Kat Albrecht, Thomas F. Geraghty and Meredith Rountree (Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Criminology & Criminal Justice Department, Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law and Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law) have posted How Culture Impacts Courtrooms: An Empirical Study of Alienation and Detachment in the Cook County Court System (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 112, No. 2, 2022) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

 

Courtrooms operate as unique microcosms—inhabited by courtroom personnel, legal actors, defendants, witnesses, family members, and community residents who necessarily interact with each other to conduct the day-to-day functions of justice. This Article argues that these interactions create a nuanced and salient courtroom culture that separates courtroom insiders from courtroom outsiders.

The authors use the Cook County courts, specifically the George N. Leighton Courthouse at 2650 N California Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, to investigate courtroom culture and construct a thematic portrait of one of the largest criminal court systems in the United States.