Handout for Florida State Symposium - Excerpts

Here is the document on excerpts from our film that Brenda will hand out after her talk and presentation of our film Pillars of Justice at the Florida State design symposium.


THE STORYTELLERS: EXCERPTS FROM PILLARS OF JUSTICE
Brenda Waugh and Paulette Moore
Florida State University, January 19, 2009

“Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten…America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness-justice.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” 1967.

In creating our short film, Pillars of Justice, our goal is to explore how those who work in and visit the courthouses perceive the impact of architecture on justice. Paulette Moore, an award-winning director, producer and writer collaborates with Brenda Waugh, a practicing attorney, and many courthouse visitors, employees, and litigants to discuss the physical and relational space created in the courthouse. Excerpts from the film describe some of their experiences.

SPACE, EXPECTATIONS, FEELINGS AND JUSTICE
“It’s not just necessarily just the shape of the rooms. Architecture is more than that. Architecture is the forms we use, the language we use, our own notions and expectations and concepts. All of that is fairly architecture….A lot of the architecture is in your mind, it’s the process, the formality of it, the expectation, the knowledge of the history of the law, and the process that people bring with them.”
-Hon. David H. Sanders, Circuit Judge, 23rd Judicial Circuit, West Virginia

“When I walked into that space I was pulling all of the visual cues that I’m not represented. So when this relational thing happened with the judge and the cop where I felt supported, it was almost like an equal and opposite reaction…I had a marked sense of relief…I think at that point I felt a little bit more a part of the community.”
-Paulette Moore, filmmaker, litigant, and student

“To me, the most important thing in this courtroom is that the state’s attorney and the defense attorney are equal distance from the judge. The police officer, who will be prosecuting the case, and the defendant are equal distance to the judge. As far as access to the judge, this court feels more equal.”
-Brenda Waugh, attorney and student

INCREASED COURTHOUSE SECURITY AND PUBLIC OVERSIGHT
“For years, just as a philosophy -- I wanted it (the courtroom) to be open house. I regret the whole modern security trend that keeps people at arm’s length.”
-Hon. David H. Sanders

“Some of them tell me they feel like criminals before they get in the door…you go through a search and dump your pockets…people used to come in when they wanted a birth certificate. Now they call or else write you a letter.”
-John Small, County Clerk, Berkeley County, West Virginia

“Most people are intimidated by it and they don’t like that kind of oppressive atmosphere, so they disappear and don’t come back. In order for it to seem legitimate, it has to be open…we’re not that far in some cases from the old star chamber where judicial authorities used to drag people in private and question them and rule on them and send them off for execution without anybody knowing what was going on. So if (we) close off the court rooms, so it is just a group of insiders participating, you run the risk of that happening again.”
-Deborah Lawson, Chief Public Defender, 23rd Judicial Circuit, West Virginia

“It (the courthouse) should be a place where the people feel welcome... People have a right to be included in their government and they are being systematically excluded.”
-Chris Quasebarth, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Berkeley County

“I’m sure they (people) don’t (feel welcome). A little public oversight couldn’t hurt. It could only improve it.”
-Kimberly Crockett, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Berkeley County

UNUSUAL SPACES-THE PAST: A women’s witness room in the Old Berkeley County Courthouse
“I’ve had many an opportunity to retreat into this room…it’s a place where you can escape….for whatever reason-there is something about it…The powers that be recognized this as the women’s place only.”
-Maria Childers, Fiduciary Supervisor, Berkeley County

“I hugged her in here. I couldn’t do that out there. It would have seemed unprofessional.”
-Brenda Waugh

“Sometimes it (justice) can be (a hug in the women’s witness room.) Sometimes it’s a hug in the hallway afterwards.”
-Deborah Lawson

USUSUAL SPACES-AN IDEA: Two views of a courtyard
“I would like something in the front where people could hang out, like a courtyard or a commons area, where people could come in and out.”

-Matthew Harvey, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Berkeley County
“(It would) attract vagrants and people would vandalize it. Kids would be spray painting and skateboarding. I think it would be a problem. I really do.”
-Timothy Hellman, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Berkeley County





Pillars of Justice is a short documentary film by two graduate students, Brenda Waugh and Paulette Moore, attending the Center for Justice and Peace at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg Virginia. For further information visit: emu.edu/cjp/, justicandarchitecture.blogspot.com, paulettefilms.com, and brendawaugh.com.