Caernarfon Open Day - Saturday 17th October 2009
HUNDRENDS ATTEND JUSTICE CENTRE OPEN DAY
VISITORS to the new Caernarfon Criminal Justice Centre got the opportunity to see what happens inside during an open day on Saturday (17th Oct) - and still kept on the right side of the law!
Nearly 700 people took the opportunity to take a tour of the courts, watch a mock court trial, sample the state-of-the-art Video Link system, have their fingerprints taken, meet the judges and even get locked up in a cell! The public also saw how provisions are made in court hearings when the Welsh language is used.
There was also the opportunity for the public to decide the fate of convicted criminals. But don't worry! This is was just an exercise for the ‘You be the Judge’ event, which gave the visitor the opportunity to hear real, recent, anonymous court cases and vote on the appropriate sentence using ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ style voting consoles.
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Court Manager Ffion Thomas said the feedback had been overwhelmingly positive. "This was about engaging with the community," she said. "It was about showing people how the system works and hopefully when they understand it they will feel better.
"The vast majority of people have never been inside a court before and they only hear bad news stories but there is a lot of good work we do with community involvement and for witnesses."
Representatives from professional and voluntary organisations involved in the running of the Criminal Justice Centre were on hand to answer questions and provide information on their organisations including Witness and Victim support, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and North Wales Police.
The open day was part of Inside Justice Week, an initiative run by the Criminal Justice System. Ed Beltrami, chairman of the North Wales Criminal Justice Board, said: "The Criminal Justice System is somewhat of a mystery to many members of the public.
"Inside Justice Week offers an excellent opportunity for the people of North Wales to find out more about how the system works and what it is doing to address the issues that matter most to local people.
"We encourage all members of the public to get involved and gain an insight into the workings of the system, to ask questions and to tell us their thoughts."
