Friday, May 23, 2008

Our Clients

Our clients often had mental health issues to deal with. Some of them are more severe, some are mild. Some are obvious, and others can hide their various issues well. This past month, a video appeared on youtube showing a young woman on a MARTA train. Supposedly she is now our client and locked up in jail (although in my opinion, our client looks nothing like the girl in the video). I have no idea how the police think they have the right person since she was not arrested at the scene.

Even if this isn't our client, it is a good example of what the court system deals with on a daily basis. If this young woman has mental health problems, she might get some treatment for whatever disorder she may have. If it is not "serious" enough of a disorder, she'll have to proceed through a confusing and frustrating court system designed to go as fast as possible so the judges and prosecutors can get to golf on time.

The one exception would be if she had been assigned to my courtroom. My judge is actually very fair and understands that there are various degrees of crazy and there are people that could use some help. For that, I've come to appreciate my judge more and more, especially when I hear about the other judges in the courthouse.



No comments: