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Cameras In Court

Allow public access to courts via cameras

During my 22 years as a criminal court judge, I was one of the first judges in Texas to not only allow filming of court proceedings, but to also allow the entire trial of a capital murder case to be successfully aired on Court TV ("Let public see justice at work," Our view, Cameras in federal courts debate, Dec. 8).
Ref. https://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20051215/...ourtsviacameras

Court Cameras

Very good points are made here about why cameras should be allowed to air court proceedings. However.... We are now publicly displaying someones dirty laundry. Some forms of justice just don't need to be exploited to the general public. Also, how are the camera's going to be run? News teams? The same media officials that have exploited every assumptive angle of every public trial in the US. Keep in mind the O J Simpson trial, Michael Jackson, and every other that you can think of. Do we really want the media and general public that heavily involved in the justice system?

Cameras In Court History & Civil Business Politics

I can partly see why cameras could be allowed within court rooms, however, what I don't agree in, is that the person standing before court is supposed to be presumed innocent, until proven guilty, and by this time, the filming of these court cases are going out live!
Should the person then be found to be innocent, the damage to that person is already done, and everybody knows what they look like!

Also, witnesses, to the case, could also find themselves 'unsafe' through no fault of their own, as they are too easily identifiable, having appeared on national tv, this doesn't seem quite fair to me.

Court Cameras

I believe the point about witnesses that Diane made is a very valid one. I always wondered to myself why witnesses were identified and even interviewed right after a court case. I realize that anyone in the courtroom would basically see these people but why make them even more well-known, especially if they are witnesses to crimes involving murder, or even lots of money. Also, this point can be extended to jurors. Again, I know that jurors are part of the judicial process and they are open to all who are in the courtrooms, but do we really need to be showing them all over the news right after the case is out? It just bothers me that their identities are so loosely paraded. My wife is going to school currently to become a court reported, and I am even skeptical about her identity possibly being given out because she transcribed at a certain case. Criminals will find everybody and anybody who was associated with a case, and target them if they feel so impelled, even if that person really had nothing to do with the decision.