A Glimpse into “Normal Life”: A Visit to the District Court

In January, Class 8c from Steinmühle High School visited the Marburg District Court on Universitätsstraße as part of the “Youth and Crime” project, accompanied by their teacher, Dr. Claudia Röder. Students Greta Steiner and Evelyne Hildermann wrote the following about the visit:

We wanted to pursue criminal charges. After passing through security, the hearing began at 9:30. The courtroom was a small room divided into two sections: one section was for spectators, and the other section housed the prosecutor, the judge, a court clerk who was taking the minutes, and the defendant.

When the trial was about to begin, no defendant appeared, and the judge feared she would have to send for him. The prosecutor wanted to make sure once more that no one was actually there, and as he did so, he ran into the defendant in the hallway.

The defendant appeared in court without a lawyer and chose to represent himself. In the trial in question, the defendant was accused of assaulting his wife and an acquaintance at a house party attended by about 10 people in total, and of later resisting law enforcement officers.

The defendant denied the sequence of events and said that he had never become violent. However, since five witnesses described him as violent, he was found guilty. He was sentenced to seven months in prison, suspended for three years, and a fine of 600 euros, which he is allowed to pay in installments.

The witness, who failed to appear without a valid excuse, was fined 150 euros or sentenced to three days in jail.

Everyone was clearly shaken by the fact that actions we young people had actually considered “not that bad” had led to a prison sentence.

We all followed the trial with bated breath and found the outcome gripping. At the same time, we realized that, due to his language difficulties, the defendant hadn’t understood everything the prosecutor or the judge had said. For example, he was unfamiliar with the term “probation,” so he reacted with horror to the verdict.

All in all, it was a great morning, and it was cool to get a taste of “normal life” for a change.