The Defendant's Cage in the KROK Courtroom

Historically in Europe the Defendants in criminal trials would be required to sit in a cage in the courtroom. In England these cages would sometimes have subterranean staircases so that the prisoner would not even be able to walk to the cage, but would be led up from the depths. Of course, in the American view the cage is highly prejudicial to the Defendant's right of the presumption of innocence, and is not used. I don't believe that the Ukrainian courts actually use the cage anymore, but it was formerly in use. There is an old mock trial courtroom in the law school at the University of Economics and Law (also known as "KROK") with a prisoner's cage. It was suggested that I sit in the cage for a picture, which is at left. The young woman next to the cage is Ludmilla, one of the outstanding law student presenters from today.

Teaching at "KROK"

Today was my first experience teaching at the 15,000 student Ukrainian Economics and Law University (Університет Економіка та Права), also popularly known as "KROK," or "Step." I met with a small class in the mock trial room of the law school. Because we teach only a single two and a half hour session each week at KROK, the students did not have the benefit of two days preparation time which the other closing argument presenters enjoyed. I spent the first hour of my lecture going over the case file with the students and discussing presentation strategies with them. During the second hour about six of the students were brave enough to attempt a largely extemporaneous argument. Interestingly, at KROK, as with the other two law schools I worked at today, only a single student (in each case a woman) was brave enough to present for the prosecution. All of the others elected to argue the defense case. I suppose this was out of a mistaken belief that the defense case was easier. This, of course, is not the case, as the case file is so carefully crafted with balanced arguments for either side, that it doesn't really make any tactical difference to choose one side over the other. At KROK I was most impressed with the presentations of Ludmilla (seated on the front row at the right), who presented for the prosecution, and with Tanya (second from the left) who presented for the defense. Olga also tells me that there are other very promising students at KROK who were not in attendance today.