NORTHAMPTON — For the students gathered inside a large cell in the Northampton courthouse’s first floor, it is likely the only time any of them will set foot in there.
The visit was a chance to get a closer look at how a courthouse functions and the state’s criminal justice system as part of Law Day.
Law Day is a national effort to educate citizens about the importance of law and the role it plays in our everyday lives. It is generally celebrated around May 1. The Northwestern district attorney’s office has been participating for about two decades.
“It’s really to help students in particular understand our legal system and also how government works,” District Attorney David Sullivan said. “We really want to bring students into the court system and demystify it and let them know it’s their court system. They are going to be jurors, they are going to be witnesses.
“We want them to understand it’s really about the public participation, particularity on the juror level, let them know it’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s an opportunity to really help make decisions,” Sullivan said.
Each year, the American Bar Association sets the theme for the day. This year’s theme was “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom,” which encompasses the legislative, executive, and judicial powers and how they interact to serve as a check on the power of the others.
“They provide a framework for freedom. Yet, this framework is not self-executing,” according to the organization. “We the people must continually act to ensure that our constitutional democracy endures, preserving our liberties and advancing our rights. The Law Day 2018 theme enables us to reflect on the separation of powers as fundamental to our constitutional purpose and to consider how our governmental system is working for ourselves and our posterity.”
But as attorney John Garber told the students, it was also about the power of control.
“It is the power to execute you. It is the power to send you to war. It is the power to take your money through taxes. It is the power to imprison you,” said Garber, who also serves as the president of the Hampshire County Bar Association Executive Committee.
The day’s keynote speaker, incoming dean of the Western New England University School of Law Sudha Setty, said the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution is still important and resonant today.
“You can see that in news, in our political debates and in our public debates around the country. In the last year and a half, I think it’s a question that many people have taken a deeper interest in,” she said.
Students from Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School, South Hadley High School, Hampshire Regional and Turners Falls High School attended the event. As part of the event, the students were taken on a tour of the courthouse including visits to the superior and district courts as well as the courthouse’s lock-up facility.
PVPA senior Macy Bryer-Charette, of Chicopee, participated in the program with teammates from the school’s mock trial team, which performed three vignettes on the topic of separation of powers. Nine students from the performing arts school presented pieces that illustrated the separation of powers created by the Constitution.
For South Hadley senior Brooke Barthelette, the Law Day field trip was a chance to learn more about the current political climate and further an interest in law. Barthelette also had an opportunity to ask a question of Setty on the topic of mass incarceration.
Following the presentation, Bryer-Charette said she has always been interested in criminal justice and is hoping to major in political science when she goes to college. Of the day’s presentation, she said “it was really interesting” and found the topic of separation of powers very important.
For 16-year-old Shelby Christian, the trip to the courthouse complex was a chance to gain new perspectives and see the different jobs available in the courthouse. Christian said she hopes to be a homicide detective and is part of the criminal justice program at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School.
This was the first year Smith Voc took part in Law Day, according to Ryan Burnett, an instructor at Smith Voc.
“I think it’s really awesome,” Christian said of Law Day.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.