An introduction to the criminal justice system in England
On the 6th of August 2013 my and my learning collaborator visited the Crawley Magistrates' Court to support two youths who were arraigned at the Balcome anti-fracking (hydraulic fracturing) protest. When we arrived at the court we were scanned as a precaution, to make sure we had no dangerous items on us. We then had to check in upstairs with the usher (a man who checks people into the court). Once we where checked in, we asked if we could get into the youth court. We got told that we could not get in as it was not custom to let people in to the youth court as they like to keep it low key so as not to make the children even more frightened.
When we found out we could not get into the youth court, we went downstairs and met one of the youths who was going to the court for the protesting "offences". We told his responsible adult we were there to support them and so he said he would ask if we could see the court case. Whilst we waited for him to come back and tell us, some anti-fracking protesters turned up outside and started waving banners at the door. There was a woman, two men and a man dressed in a radiation suite (it looked like a banana). The man in the radiation suite tried to get in and the police officer told him he was not appropriately dressed for court and told him to get out. They had a small argument about why the man in the suit should not be allowed in, and then he left and rejoined his friends outside.
After this incident we got told we could not go into the youth court and so we decided to go into the upstairs court room to have a look. When we went in a lady was there and she told us about the court and and said that a case would be happening in 20 minutes in which she was the prosecuter. We decided to wait and see the case.
Whilst we waited, we went downstairs and talked to the anti-frackers. The woman in the group seemed to know a lot about protesting, and she told me about what i could do and how best not to be arrested when being a photojournalist. She said that I should ask people before taking their photographs and said not to go and talk to the police first.
After the discussion we went up to the court and crept in quietly just as the case was beginning. The case was for a man who was, I think, falsely accused of stealing a car and some money even though there was no forensic evidence of him being in the car. At the end of this case, the magistrates got up to leave and a man at the front said "everyone stand", I did not think he meant us and so I did not stand, and then he shouted at us "everyone stand" and I, fuming, stood up.
Once out of that room me and my collaborator had a good moan and groan and giggle about having to stand up for "some people we don't even know and that haven't earned our respect". After out fume, we went back outside and had another talk with the anti-frackers. We got into a discussion about the abuse of power and she told me more about how to avoid the police and about what not to do and what to do, and then I was featured in a photograph for their facebook page about anti-fracking.
At the end of this discussion the usher came out and asked us to write down our details, and why we wanted to get into the youth court and said he was trying to get us in. We waited inside, and whilst we waited we had a very interesting discussion about the behaviour a girl who was there. She was being very aggressive and swearing and smoking. She was only about 15. We had a talk about why we thought she was so aggressive, and then the usher came back and told us we could not go in.
After this we left and had a lovely, well deserved drink and then my collaborator bought herself some wool for when we go to the Balcome anti-fracking protest tomorrow, she wants to be a knitting Nana.
We then went home and had a discussion with my mum to make sure she was still OK with me going due to the risks, she was and so I will be going and staying overnight tomorrow.
I really look forward to seeing the camp, but I will be staying well back from the action as I am going on holiday soon and don't fancy spending it in a cell.
When we found out we could not get into the youth court, we went downstairs and met one of the youths who was going to the court for the protesting "offences". We told his responsible adult we were there to support them and so he said he would ask if we could see the court case. Whilst we waited for him to come back and tell us, some anti-fracking protesters turned up outside and started waving banners at the door. There was a woman, two men and a man dressed in a radiation suite (it looked like a banana). The man in the radiation suite tried to get in and the police officer told him he was not appropriately dressed for court and told him to get out. They had a small argument about why the man in the suit should not be allowed in, and then he left and rejoined his friends outside.
After this incident we got told we could not go into the youth court and so we decided to go into the upstairs court room to have a look. When we went in a lady was there and she told us about the court and and said that a case would be happening in 20 minutes in which she was the prosecuter. We decided to wait and see the case.
Whilst we waited, we went downstairs and talked to the anti-frackers. The woman in the group seemed to know a lot about protesting, and she told me about what i could do and how best not to be arrested when being a photojournalist. She said that I should ask people before taking their photographs and said not to go and talk to the police first.
After the discussion we went up to the court and crept in quietly just as the case was beginning. The case was for a man who was, I think, falsely accused of stealing a car and some money even though there was no forensic evidence of him being in the car. At the end of this case, the magistrates got up to leave and a man at the front said "everyone stand", I did not think he meant us and so I did not stand, and then he shouted at us "everyone stand" and I, fuming, stood up.
Once out of that room me and my collaborator had a good moan and groan and giggle about having to stand up for "some people we don't even know and that haven't earned our respect". After out fume, we went back outside and had another talk with the anti-frackers. We got into a discussion about the abuse of power and she told me more about how to avoid the police and about what not to do and what to do, and then I was featured in a photograph for their facebook page about anti-fracking.
At the end of this discussion the usher came out and asked us to write down our details, and why we wanted to get into the youth court and said he was trying to get us in. We waited inside, and whilst we waited we had a very interesting discussion about the behaviour a girl who was there. She was being very aggressive and swearing and smoking. She was only about 15. We had a talk about why we thought she was so aggressive, and then the usher came back and told us we could not go in.
After this we left and had a lovely, well deserved drink and then my collaborator bought herself some wool for when we go to the Balcome anti-fracking protest tomorrow, she wants to be a knitting Nana.
We then went home and had a discussion with my mum to make sure she was still OK with me going due to the risks, she was and so I will be going and staying overnight tomorrow.
I really look forward to seeing the camp, but I will be staying well back from the action as I am going on holiday soon and don't fancy spending it in a cell.
Canterbury
From the 9th to the 10th of April 2013, me and my learning collaborator visited Canterbury with my mum. Our first stop was the beaney, where we got tickets for the Roman and Heritage museum.
My collaborator and I first visited the Roman museum in Canterbury. We had a great time trying to find the it, we followed a finger post that lead us down Butchery lane, we walked out the other side and saw a sign pointing back down the lane, we walked back and forth once more and then asked a man who said it was down Butchery lane opposite a shop. We found it on the left of the road, we had only been looking on the right. In the Roman museum, they started with a room containing a model of a soldier and his horse, a picture of a Celtic village, and of what and artist thinks the early Roman villages looked like. I the next room was an artists depiction of the later years of Rome. There where also pots, vases, clothes recipes, and human figures in the museum. In the last room was a full, authentic, Roman floor, that had been warped with time and distorted the mosaic on top.
Next, we visited the heritage museum. The first room was about pre history in Canterbury from 80 million to ten thousand years ago. In the next room we looked at the Romans and the Celts, and then we moved on to the Middle Age, William the conqueror and his descendants. In the next room we saw the Stuarts, Shakespeare and Marlow and then the Victorians. After that we went downstairs and quickly whizzed through the first world war, stopping to look and the first steam train in the world. We then went back to the hotel, and a t 10:30 pm all my collaborator could think about was that she had forgotten to put bullet points on Roman notes she had sent me.
The next day, we went to "The Canterbury Tales". This is a tour of the pilgrimage in which each person on the pilgrim told a story. We thought it was OK but not for the price, and the people working it were not very well informed.
We next visited Canterbury cathedral, but before we went in, we got two work sheets. As we walked through the Cathedral, we filled out the work sheets, and at 12 O'clock we watched a children's quire sing. The cathedral was very large, and started to be built in 1070 under the order of William I. The underneath of the Cathedral was later built by Anglo-Saxons, and at the end of the cathedral, was the place where Thomas Becket's tomb used to be. Pilgrims could pay money to touch the tomb if they could afford it. Becket's tomb was a pilgrim that even poor people could go and as they could not afford to go to Italy or Spain.
Over all, I really enjoyed the experience and would like to go away again, also this experience fitted in with my Roman project.
My collaborator and I first visited the Roman museum in Canterbury. We had a great time trying to find the it, we followed a finger post that lead us down Butchery lane, we walked out the other side and saw a sign pointing back down the lane, we walked back and forth once more and then asked a man who said it was down Butchery lane opposite a shop. We found it on the left of the road, we had only been looking on the right. In the Roman museum, they started with a room containing a model of a soldier and his horse, a picture of a Celtic village, and of what and artist thinks the early Roman villages looked like. I the next room was an artists depiction of the later years of Rome. There where also pots, vases, clothes recipes, and human figures in the museum. In the last room was a full, authentic, Roman floor, that had been warped with time and distorted the mosaic on top.
Next, we visited the heritage museum. The first room was about pre history in Canterbury from 80 million to ten thousand years ago. In the next room we looked at the Romans and the Celts, and then we moved on to the Middle Age, William the conqueror and his descendants. In the next room we saw the Stuarts, Shakespeare and Marlow and then the Victorians. After that we went downstairs and quickly whizzed through the first world war, stopping to look and the first steam train in the world. We then went back to the hotel, and a t 10:30 pm all my collaborator could think about was that she had forgotten to put bullet points on Roman notes she had sent me.
The next day, we went to "The Canterbury Tales". This is a tour of the pilgrimage in which each person on the pilgrim told a story. We thought it was OK but not for the price, and the people working it were not very well informed.
We next visited Canterbury cathedral, but before we went in, we got two work sheets. As we walked through the Cathedral, we filled out the work sheets, and at 12 O'clock we watched a children's quire sing. The cathedral was very large, and started to be built in 1070 under the order of William I. The underneath of the Cathedral was later built by Anglo-Saxons, and at the end of the cathedral, was the place where Thomas Becket's tomb used to be. Pilgrims could pay money to touch the tomb if they could afford it. Becket's tomb was a pilgrim that even poor people could go and as they could not afford to go to Italy or Spain.
Over all, I really enjoyed the experience and would like to go away again, also this experience fitted in with my Roman project.
The Fashion Festival.
BL and I attended a fashion festival at the V&A. We listened to talks about how to set up a label and how to set up a shop display. We observed an interview with a budding designer as she talked about how she started and what she did to get where she is now. This included textile printing and pattern making. We watched a talk in which art students showed their designs and talk about their ideas and inspiration for the designs. My favourite one was a dress made out of paper on the theme of perfection. The dress was made out of newspaper strips that talked about plastic surgery and beauty products which are used to "perfect" oneself.
Hollywood costumes.
We attended a Hollywood costumes exhibition at the V&A. We saw many famous clothes from different films. We saw clothes from films about Elizabeth I, the curtain gown from Gone with the Wind, costumes including that of Batman, Spiderman, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Saturday Night Fever and also the dress worn by Marilyn Monroe when she walked over an air vent. We learnt how costume affects character formation for actors. For example, the actor who played James Bond said he felt incomplete until he put on his costume. Also, if James Bond wore a tutu he would not look like the brave adventurer and his costume would not fit in with the film. There were also interviews between the designers, actors and directors of certain films such as The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.
David Hockney exhibit
ON the 5th of March my new tutor Daryl and I went to a David Hockney exhibition in London. We went to the Royal Academy of Art were we queued for nearly an hour before we got into the building and there we had to queue for ten more minutes because they had stopped giving tickets. We finally got in. In the exhibit the first room we came to was on in which there were four pictures of the same scene in the four different times of the year. In the various rooms we saw more of his artwork, my favourite of which was one of the grand canyon in which there were many bright and vibrant colours. I also liked his little charcoal sketches because I know how hard I find it to sketch with charcoal. After we had gone through the exhibit Daryl and I brought some postcards with the paintings on.
(Above: a painting of a flower bush by Hockney)
We then went to Trafalgar Square were I took some pictures (so did Daryl). On the fourth column, were nothing stays permanently, there is now a copper statue of a boy on a rocking horse.
After that we went into the National Gallery, because it was there and it was free. In this gallery we saw many religious paintings of Jesus and the Devil and demons. There was one painting of a horse and two of old grannies. One looked like she would feed you cake and give you tea, theother who looked like she would whack you with a ruler. There were many other paintings and styles such as the sun-flower painting by Van Gogh which is worth £30million. We then returned home where mum picked us up and we were both exhausted.
(Above: a painting of a flower bush by Hockney)
We then went to Trafalgar Square were I took some pictures (so did Daryl). On the fourth column, were nothing stays permanently, there is now a copper statue of a boy on a rocking horse.
After that we went into the National Gallery, because it was there and it was free. In this gallery we saw many religious paintings of Jesus and the Devil and demons. There was one painting of a horse and two of old grannies. One looked like she would feed you cake and give you tea, theother who looked like she would whack you with a ruler. There were many other paintings and styles such as the sun-flower painting by Van Gogh which is worth £30million. We then returned home where mum picked us up and we were both exhausted.