The Power of Experiential Learning in Emotional Courtroom Spaces

Abstract

Courtrooms are dynamic and emotionally imbued spaces. In these environments, case processing challenges, shortcomings, successes, and power struggles impact court actors, defendants, and victims. We asked: What happens when you immerse a group of students with limited interest in court systems into this environment to witness, take notes, and reflect on their experiences? Can this experiential learning opportunity spark interest and enhance understanding of criminal court processes? A qualitative analysis of 42 journals reveals that students had strong emotional responses to what they saw; through journaling, students described not only their own reactions but also a myriad of emotions they perceived in court actors and participants. Further, many students personally related to processes observed, especially when they were attentive to the backgrounds of defendants, victims, and their families. Whether positive or negative, our data demonstrate that these experiences lead students to critically analyze system processes on a more macro level.

Keywords:

• Civic engagement
• courts
• criminal procedure
• emotions
• experiential learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Esther Nir

Esther Nir is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at New Jersey City University. Dr. Nir received her Juris Doctor from Fordham Law School and her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. Her research interests include sentencing disparities, policing, criminal procedure, and community engaged learning initiatives. Dr. Nir specializes in qualitative research methods and interviews judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys in connection to her research efforts. Her research can be found in various criminal justice and research methodology journals including The British Journal of Criminology, The International Journal of Social Research Methodology, International Journal of Police Science and Management, and Criminal Justice Policy Review.

Jennifer Musial

Jennifer Musial is an Assistant Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, NJ. She earned her PhD in Women’s Studies from York University in Toronto, ON. She publishes in three fields; (1) reproductive justice, racialization, and gender-based violence; (2) critical yoga studies; and (3) Women’s and Gender Studies field formation. Her major project-in-progress, Pregnant Pause: Reproduction, Death, and Media Culture, looks at racialized grievability in media cases of fatal violence against pregnant women. Previous work has been published in Sexualities, Feminist Formations, Social Identities, Atlantis, and Feminist Teacher. She has forthcoming chapters in the edited collections Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies Volume II and Carcerality Locally and Globally: Feminist Critiques of States of Violence. She is the managing editor for Race and Yoga, a peer-reviewed journal that looks at the intersections of yoga, racialization, colonialism, capitalism, gender, sexuality, and disability studies.