Updated: Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 at 01:31 CST Learning realities of life in court; middle school students observe system at work By Gabrielle Crist Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH -- On any given day in the Tarrant County Justice Center, prosecutors present crime scene photos, someone details a rape or beating and a victim's family mourns its loss. In many cases, a dozen or so middle school students sit in the courtroom, catching a real- life glimpse of the criminal justice system. Educators, parents and attorneys agree that students should watch a trial to see how the system really works and how it differs from TV crime shows. What they don't agree about is how young those students should be and what details they ought to see. In many trials, the crime scene photos are shocking, and although they usually are presented for only jurors to see, it's possible for someone in the audience to catch a glimpse. Even if students don't see the pictures, they could hear testimony that often describes the photos or the crime in great detail. College and high school students can handle a violent- crime trial, some prosecutors said. And while parents should decide whether their younger children can attend a trial, some prosecutors wonder if there's any benefit to exposing 13- and 14-year-old students to gruesome details of a crime. Probably not, said Thomas Van Hoose, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Because students attend only a few hours of a trial, they don't have enough time to learn the difference between television and reality, or even how the criminal justice system works, he said. "You're not going to get a lesson that complex in a two- hour slice right in the middle of something," Van Hoose said. In addition, Van Hoose said, each child reacts to a trial differently, and teachers run the risk of exposing the wrong child to the wrong details. For example, he said, a student exposed to domestic violence at home could react emotionally after attending a murder trial involving domestic violence. "I have some real concerns," said Van Hoose, who also is in private practice. Assistant District Attorney Sharon Johnson shares Van Hoose's concerns and said she worries that some students will be traumatized. "Maybe 17 are fine with it, but then maybe there's three that just can't cope with what they're hearing," Johnson said. "You don't know what's happening in their family. You don't know what's going on at home." Some students shouldn't watch violent-crime trials, and there are trials that no children should watch, supporters of the courthouse field trips concurred. But generally speaking, they said, once children are in eighth grade, they do not need to be guarded from reality. Besides, some parents and teachers said, students see more graphic violence on television. At least when they watch a trial, they see what really happens when someone loses a mother, brother or friend, they said. Pam Fenton's 13-year-old son watched part of a December domestic violence murder trial and had no adverse emotional reaction to it, she said. "We live in a horrible world in a horrible time, and to shield your child I don't think does any good," said Fenton, whose son is an eighth-grader at Wedgwood Middle School. "Let them see that, yes, these bad people are going to prison." Jennifer Mattingly, an assistant principal at Huffines Middle School in Lewisville, said her students usually watch murder trials when they visit the Tarrant County Justice Center, but she tries to make sure the details are not too gruesome. Like other teachers, Mattingly said she doesn't take her students to trials in sexual assault cases involving children, but in October, they did watch a portion of an aggravated sexual assault trial. "It was absolutely a phenomenal experience. They talked about it for days," Mattingly said. As she does before each parent-approved field trip to the courthouse, Mattingly prepared the students for what they might see or hear and told them they could leave the courtroom if they got uncomfortable. "I don't ever want to put a kid in a situation where they're uncomfortable," Mattingly said. Two female students did leave the sexual assault trial, Mattingly said, and were taken to another trial. Mattingly said she has taken about 1,000 students to the courthouse in recent years. Although a handful of parents "think it's awful," most support the field trips, she said. "It's always been a real positive experience," said Mattingly, adding that she, too, has benefited from the field trips. "I have a totally different insight now than I did before." State District Judge Scott Wisch agreed that students can benefit from watching a trial, but said they don't need to see and hear every gory detail to learn from the experience. This month, Wisch presided over an aggravated assault trial in which a man had cut his ex- girlfriend's throat. As in most trials, the majority of the testimony was relatively unemotional. But when prosecutors got ready to call the victim to the stand and introduce grisly photos of her injuries, Wisch ordered those younger than age 14 to leave the courtroom. "There was going to be pictures of someone with their throat cut ear to ear," Wisch said. But if 14-year-olds can be certified to stand trial as adults, they should be able to watch a trial, said Cindy Randolph, an eighth-grade honors reading teacher at Wedgwood Middle School. "It's only fair, it's only right, that they should know what the consequences are," Randolph said, adding that she doesn't take her seventh- grade students to trials. She said she wants her students to know they can change the world, but they can't if they don't see the world's wrongs. "It's hard to improve something you don't understand," Randolph said. "I think it's way better to be aware." She conceded that students could learn the same lesson watching a nonviolent trial, but they want to see murder trials. "That's just reality," Randolph said. John Woods, a 15-year-old in Randolph's class, said he wasn't upset after watching a couple of hours of testimony in the December domestic violence murder case. He even caught a glimpse of an autopsy photo that showed the victim's bullet wounds, he said. Woods said the trial taught him that there are "families that get ruined" by crime. He was glad to watch a murder trial instead of a nonviolent case, he said, because that "made it more exciting, because this guy's life is at stake." Most boys his age would probably feel the same, "usually because they want to see blood," he said. But some students, particularly those younger than 13, aren't ready to watch a violent- crime trial, Woods said. "It might upset some kids," Woods said. "I'm quite sure it would." Even if it didn't, Johnson said, young teens have plenty of time to learn that the world is a violent place. "I'd like to think that kids are still kids and they don't need to hear the graphic details," Johnson said. "This isn't doing a great deal to add to their sense of security in the world." Gabrielle Crist, (817) 390-7662 Send comments to [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com