I attended Judge Donald Canava's CHC 2019 motion calendar in the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse in downtown Miami. His courtroom is a domestic violence drug court and one of the most exclusive in the country, handling both criminal and civil cases. He has been a Miami-Dade County judge for about eight to nine years. I was in his courtroom on March 22, and the date is significant because there was a camera crew there to film 30 years of drug court, and when I talked to some of the crew, they said they were filming a documentary or a marketing video somehow to show other states to adopt a DV drug court and to show how "ahead" Miami and Florida are when it comes to drug court. Out of respect for the defendants I have never written down any of their names as most if not all are recovering from drug problems and are going through private issues with their families as well as any members of the court. However, having said that, I have noted numerous interesting events that occurred during the movement's calendar. To establish context, Judge Canava requires that before entering the courtroom, before hearing any case, every single person who appears before the judge must submit to him a free drug test. Throughout the day, many people declared themselves positive, but one definitely. he tested positive for cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol and marijuana, after apparently being clean for weeks and promising to be clean for the rest of his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay As soon as Judge Canava (who is generally in good spirits and inspirational) read the results aloud to the court, he took off his glasses suit in anger and moved completely away. He went from being kind and helpful, to asking that the def. be put in the jury box to be dealt with later and see what its consequences would be. Another similar case was that this def. he was consistently testing positive and I assume Judge Canava reached his breaking point with him (this def. above had a history of being rude and violent to The Advocate Program staff) decided to take him into custody, and go forward and refer him to residential treatment where he would be placed in a rehab to clean him up and improve his life. On a more positive note, for cases that end their term, that end all their conditions, Judge Canava, asks the court to give the final. an applause, asks the def. to approach the bench, and Judge Canava personally hands them a certificate of completion of the program along with a handshake and hug to one of the def. I saw that day, when I spoke to the Advocate staff (since they track every case), they told me that the case had been ongoing since 2016 but that they constantly kept relapsing and going back until she finally checked herself into residential treatment (after the court also requested it) and changed her life. As for the lawyers present, the State was only present for the criminal calendar, while private lawyers/public defenders only came in and out if one of their cases was being handled. called. Very different from other courtrooms I have seen where the def. it is always present throughout the movement's calendar. It should be noted, however, that neither side was actually involved in the entire courtroom, the only time I saw any of the state's attorneys speak was for nolle prosse cases or forarchive them. And I just saw a defense attorney talk to his client, then take the program, and then the judge when his client was called. But he left soon after, presumably to another courtroom. Contrary to what was said in Tarr and in class, where most civil cases are settled, almost all, if not all, civil cases go completely through the court process. Sure, they won't be on trial, but the lawsuit filed against them is only dismissed once the program is completed. As for the criminal side of the court, it goes along with what the book says, about 90% of cases go to plea bargaining, the plea bargaining in these cases is that if they follow the program, the state will drop the charges and there will be no it will be a process. Judge Canava all in all was extremely interested in the life, betterment and general well-being of his defendants. It is as if he were the sole judge of each def., as if he had no other cases to deal with. He remembered almost all their stories, faces, etc. He was for the most part a very forgiving, kind and supportive person to every def. but that in no way means he was weak. Judge Canava had the ability to turn the courtroom upside down in terms of mood and atmosphere when he needed to. He could become very stern and harsh if necessary, although he very rarely becomes hostile, only when in difficulty. they did not comply with the court's instructions, were themselves hostile or tested positive. I truly believe Judge Canava cares about his defense, he only consulted The Advocate Program to see how and if they met the conditions, not what the conditions were. Maybe he didn't need to remember the conditions of each case because they were all the same, each case or type of case had the same conditions and expectations. If this were the case, then it would correspond to what the book tells us, that the law must be applied uniformly and equally for everyone. Or perhaps he starts those conditions from precedents that the judges who sat in his place before him established. I actually think it's a mix of everything, as when I asked staff members about the Advocate program, they told me that for the most part everyone has similar conditions but some are def. have conditions that others don't have, for example a def. may have to take a substance abuse class along with random drug testing, etc., while another will have to do AA meetings. Basically, the expectations and conditions set by the court vary from case to case. I have mentioned the Advocate Program several times throughout the essay, and I will leave it until now since I have talked about the agents of the court (the lawyers and Judge Canava). In truth, the courtroom is completely dependent on the Advocate Program, a non-profit pre-trial entertainment clinic, to monitor all court cases, criminal and civil. The Advocate Program ensures that the advocate/defendant complies with all court conditions, conditions such as random drug testing, abuser intervention program, anger management, and so on. What is interesting, though, is that instead of relying on an agency like the Department of Corrections, the justice system uses a third party. They are not litigants, since they have no interest of their own in the case, rather they are a kind of monitoring agency, since in the book and in class we have discussed the idea that the justice system does not actually have the capacity to make sure that people follow what they say. I learned a lot from this observation, not only about the justice system or how it works, but also about myself. I've learned that this is truly what I want to do with my life. It reinforced the idea that I will become a prosecutor and one day.