Sober as a Judge

America was captivated this week with yet another gripping court drama that could have been written for a bad episode of Law & Order. Our democratic system is messy, it's mean, it's anything but boring-- with political mudslinging, character assassinations, defendant deceptions and colorful alibis. yet all this treachery and vilification and backstabbing happens in a very plain, boring place. 

The interior design of a courtroom is as sober as a judge as they used to say (that metaphor doesn't quite work as well since one of our supreme judicial leaders ranted about his love of beer). Wood paneled jury boxes and witness stands and long tables for the defense and prosecution teams face the raised Judge's box. There is no color, no fun, no lightness or cheer when one's fate is on the line. 

So we can all agree that the design of the court, at least, is sober for sure, with its plain wood tables and puritanical benches. Every courtroom is more or less the same layout and design on or off tv, so what is the psychology behind the stark look and strict seating arrangements of the teams?

We in the USA are (all too) familiar with seeing the defendant seated at a long bar-desk alongside their legal team. Our courts have found that this is the best way to avoid giving the impression of guilt and our Supreme Court reinforced that decision in 2005, stating that any form of visible constraint violates the presumption of innocence.

However, in Europe, the UK and Australia, defendants are seated in a glass or open dock. The concept was originally conceived in the Dark Age to protect judges and witnesses from intimidation. 

And in Egypt and some Middle East countries, the defendant is placed in a literal cage.

Common sense would tell you that placing a defendant in a cage may sway a jury and a recent Australian study has found the same. Visual bars or glass walls that enclose the accused are more than a trick of the eye, but they are, in fact, an interior designed presumption of guilt. 

By putting the courtroom architecture on trial, the study found juries were more than twice as likely to convict a person sitting in a glass dock compared to the US-style bar table. 

When seated at the bar table, 36% of the 407 jurors found the defendant guilty, whilst 47% and 60% found the same person guilty when seated inside an open or glass dock respectively.   

So however we perceive the state of  our court system-- sullied and disgraced, drunk with misogyny and bipartisanship or still a little bit respectful--   it is, in one way, balanced in its visual design and interior makeup.  It may not be a handsome room, and the juries and judges may not be impartial to the facts, but at least it's designed to be fair. Let us rest this case.