Who is who in a court room?

[EvilDwarf]

A video from North South Wales/Australia
Who is who in a court room?

The purpose of this video is to give you an idea as best as we can what you should expect when you come into a court room in New South Wales. Every court room is slightly different but every court room contains the same types of things and people for that matter. You've got a bar table, that is where the advocates and the prosecutors sit. And at the bar table you see an advocate, who is appearing on behalf of the defence and a prosecutor, who appears on behalf of the prosecution. And it's the prosecutors job to try and produce as much evidence as he can to convince the court that offence has occurred. The defence advocate job is to convince the court that the prosecution haven't made out their case and there is insufficient evidence to convict the defendant.
Now the next relevant part I'm to tell you about in a court room is the witness box. That is where you will be sitting, giving evidence. Now this a generality. There are circumstances when witnesses, defendants don't give evidence. But witnesses, if you come into court to give evidence, you will be sitting in that box. That is where you have to decide if you are going to take an oath - that is, you believe in god and to swear to god to tell the truth, or you take an affirmation, which says 'your person of your word' and the court should accept simply, you will tell the truth.
Now there were as people who work in court rooms. There is the court officer (bailiff), there may also be a monitor. It's relevant to tell you about the monitor because in every courtroom you see microphones and there will be a person who is listening to what is going on because everything in a court room is recorded. And that's relevant because later on, if there are other proceedings, a transcript will be typed up and people may have to read it. The most important person in a court room is the magistrate. It's the magistrate to whom every witness is talking. It's the magistrate 1:51, who has to listen to the prosecutor and to the defence advocate. It's the magistrate, who has to make the decision as to guilt or innocence of an individual.
So when you come to court, giving your evidence, remember you need to keep your voice nice and loud, you need to speak slowly and clearly. You have to make sure that the magistrate has understood everything you have to say. If it is worth that you come into court to give evidence it is worth the magistrate is hearing what has been said. Because only if once the magistrate has heard all of the evidence and you be part of that process can the magistrate make a decision. Remember, as a witness you are crucial to the proceedings.

TTFN, EvilDwarf
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