Performances in Misdemeanorland
Every year, thousands of misdemeanor defendants pass through New York City’s lower criminal courts. Many find themselves trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare.
The Halls of Justice, or The Tombs, on Centre Street, New York City, 1870.Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York / Wikimedia
“I know,” he said, “that my case can’t be settled today, not yet, but I’ve come in anyway, I thought, I thought I could wait here anyway, it’s Sunday today, I’ve got plenty of time, and I’m not disturbing anyone here.”
“There’s no need to be so apologetic,” said the information-giver, “it’s very commendable for you to be so attentive. You are taking up space here when you don’t need to but as long as you don’t get in my way I will do nothing to stop you following the progress of your case as closely as you like. When one has seen so many people who shamefully neglect their cases one learns to show patience with people like you. Do sit down.”
Some performances in New York’s lower criminal courts — where over 160,000 misdemeanor cases are handled each year — are scripted. Some are impromptu. Some performances transpire as the unintended consequence of case processing and are then reinterpreted as meaningful accomplishments only at some later point in a case’s life course.
But what unites the disparate activities I collect under the rubric of performance is that the defendant has discharged some meaningful undertaking that is evaluated by court officials. He has complied with some duty, assigned task, program activity, therapeutic encounter, or proposed some other behavioral accomplishment that court actors can interpret as expressive of the defendant’s character or worthiness.
Sorry, but this article is available to active subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.