Judge DiGirolamo Case 4B CCJS 100 Section Paper 1 Jeremy Gumerove March 12 2012 Judge DiGirolamo Case 4B Gumerove 1 On March seventh two thousand and twelve I journeyed to the United States district court the district of Maryland in specific During this visit I observed Judge DiGirolamo in action in the court room Digirolama dealt with a man by the name of Trummel who was charged for assaulted his co worker Specifically I observed the sentencing of portion Trummel s trial For the sentencing however there was no jury only judge DiGirolamo Overall the trial was interesting and it was intriguing to see the actual proceedings and part of a legitimate trial The proceedings of the trial were simple and relatively concise The sentencing lasted a little over an hour and contained only a few steps After taking my place in the audience of the court I watched the defendant and his attorney enter Judge DiGirolamo s courtroom After the defendant and his attorney reached their placed the judge and attorney engaged in conversation This conversation included some key things such as Mr Trummel s visit to anger management classes even though he was not directed to do so by the court Judge DiGirolamo took note to this while he listened to Mr Trummel describe his apology to his co worker whom he assaulted After hearing both Mr Trummel and his attorney speak Judge DiGirolamo considered what he had heard and decided to drop the case instead of giving him probation the sentence that he would have originally received He elaborated by stating that this was Mr Trummel s first offense Gumerove 2 and that he was impressed that Mr Trummel went to anger management classes despite the fact that he was not required to do so Judge DiGirolamo also stated that the defendant Mr Trummel had already shown enough remorse and had learned his lesson That is how all the events of the trial occurred This trial the defendant was charged with assault on his co worker Since the assault on the co worker was not with a deadly weapon or too extreme the charge was considered a misdemeanor Misdemeanor charges lie in the fourth layer of the cake and are the least severe About ninety percent of court cases fall under the misdemeanor category Since such a high percentage of cases are misdemeanors it is essential that the criminal justice system handle these with all deliberate speed possible Elaborate trials on these charges are very rare most commonly punishment is in the form of a fine probation or short jail sentences Misdemeanors are a daily thing in Maryland s and every other state s courtrooms There were some parts of the process that impressed me more than others The most impressive part of the process was how casual the sentencing was handled between Judge DiGirolamo Mr Trummel and his attorney This impressed me because I previously believed that the sentencing was a crucial moment in the court room but for some reason during this sentencing the defendant seemed comfortable and spoke to the judge with ease However I was not impressed with other parts of the trial Gumerove 3 There were not many parts I disliked but one part of the process which I was not particularly fond of was the time needed for the judge to decide Though this case was relatively simple I still felt as though the judge did not take enough time to thoroughly take the time to give his sentence Since his sentence was best case scenario from the defendant s point of view I feel as though the court system should take more time to decide the sentencing for others Hopefully for more severe or complicated cases the sentencing takes longer to ensure that the correct sentencing and form of punishment is made Punishment is an important aspect to be analyzed in the case Judge DiGirolamo stated that originally he was going to sentence Mr Trummel to probation but changed his mind The main goal of punishment in regards to probation is observe the defendant in many ways and seeing if he will change his behaviors George Cole and Christopher Smith 2010 define this as general deterrence a situation where the general public will conclude that the punishment is sufficient enough for the costs of the crime to outweigh the benefits Cole Smith 2010 Some of these ways of the justice systems to make a crime costly include regular drug testing placing curfews enrolling in educational programs such as anger management and meeting with probation officers These costs are intended to make the person guilty of a crime re evaluate his actions and hopefully make change for the better Gumerove 4 Another goal of probation is retribution Cole and Smith 2010 describe retribution as punishment inflicted on a person who has harmed other people and so deserves to be penalized Cole Smith 2010 Retribution would be achieved in this case by making the defendant enroll in educational programs One of the final goals of punishment hoped to be achieved by probation is rehabilitation Though rehabilitation may be a word viewed with severity Cole and Smith define rehabilitation as restoring a convicted offender to a constructive place in society through some form of training or therapy Cole Smith 2010 Anger management classes would be a form of rehabilitation because it is considered a form of training anger and rage Rehabilitation Retribution and deterrence are all forms of punishment The participant that was most impressive was Judge DiGirolamo I was impressed with his mercy and his decision to drop the case after Mr Trummel had taken the energy and initiative to seek help on his own To me it showed that judge DiGirolamo and hopefully other judges around the United States had some mercy in them and don t abuse or misuse their power for their own or anybody else s benefit However I was least impressed with Mr Trummel s attorney After analyzing his defense attorney it appeared to me that he was overall unenthusiastic His attorney could have been more attentive and excited for Mr Trummel s sentencing but this was not the case I was distraught by this because though this case may not be important to the defense attorney it is hugely important to Mr Trummel Gumerove 5 because he had no previous offenses and this was his first experience with the law system This could have been very nerve racking for Mr Trummel and it would have been helpful to have a defense attorney that actually looked sympathetic or mildly interested in the case which he was covering Since this was not the case I was disappointed in Mr
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