The Community Education Resource Center (CERC) gym was turned into a courtroom recently as Judge Julie A. Nicholson brought her 52nd-3rd District Court to Scripps Middle School seventh-graders.
Judge Nicholson told the students they would be witnessing three actual court cases, not mock trials. Students saw a probation violation hearing, and two sentencing hearings for drunken driving cases.
The program, called Court in Schools/Critical Life Choices, brings together students and judges, as well as law enforcement officials, to learn the consequences of “critical life choices,” such as those made when someone drinks and chooses to get behind the wheel of a car.
“All of the people here today have agreed to participate in this,” Judge Nicholson told the students.
Students saw two men on trial for drunken driving receive harsh penalties from Judge Nicholson: The first man, who was charged with his second offense for drunken driving six years after the first, was given 24 months of probation, charged hefty fines and sentenced to 15 days in the Oakland County Jail. The second man was also given 24 months of probation, as well as 60 days in jail.
Both men were required to attend out patient treatment and AA meetings, as well as having their vehicles immobilized for 180 days.
“Every time you make the decision to drink and drive, you’re not only affecting yourself, you’re affecting everyone else,” Judge Nicholson told one of the men.
After the hearings, Judge Nicholson explained some of the guidelines for sentencing in drug and alcohol-related offenses.
“I’m going to do a little experiment,” she said, choosing four volunteers from the audience of students. The students were asked to go through a series of field sobriety tests, used to determine if someone is intoxicated, by Oakland County Sheriff’s Department Detective Ron Tuski of Auburn Hills.
The students performed the tests, which included catching a pen and walking a straight line, first unimpaired, and then wearing special goggles that simulated different levels of intoxication.
“How many of you want to be in a car with one of those people?” asked Judge Nicholson of the students wearing the goggles.
Students also watched a video that showed the consequences of drunken driving and bad decision making, such as choosing the wrong friends.
“Those are critical life choices,” Judge Nicholson said.
Finally, the program wrapped with a powerful message from Detective Tuski, who showed the students slides of drunken driving accidents from his 15 years of service on the roads.
The final slide that he showed was of an accident that occurred when a drunken driver ran a stop sign and struck a vehicle carrying his parents and younger brother, who all died in the accident.
“Ask yourself, how is this going to affect me and am I willing to take this risk?” he advised the students.