JAY STREET — Students from Kingsborough Community College (pictured at left) saw the inner workings of the court system on Wednesday when they visited the courtroom of Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Dowling (center, right), as part of a tour led by Shannon Taylor (center, left), the executive director of Not Just Blacks and Jews In Conversation, and Prof. Grace Trotman (center, in back), who teaches criminal justice.

After handling a motion in her courtroom, Justice Dowling explained to the students what the motion had been about and went on to talk about how the court works and some of the cases she’s handled. Students were fascinated by the concept that a trained fighter would be more culpable for a violent crime than an untrained person, and began asking questions like, “What if the fighter told the person they were trained, and the person still wanted to fight them anyways?�

“You have the mind of a lawyer,� Dowling said to one of the young knowledge-seekers. The students also visited Brooklyn Criminal Court, where they were met in the law library by Hiram Bell, supervising court attorney. A second group of students spoke with Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge John H. Wilson and observed night arraignments.

—Samuel Newhouse
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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