Judge targets no-snitching culture

The 12 middle school students had just finished watching an instructional video produced to help break down the "no snitching" culture in Boston when a court volunteer asked them a series of questions.

How many have heard shootings at night?
Every hand went up.

How many knew someone who had been shot?
At least seven raised their hands.

Finally, how many have ever reported gunfire to police?
This time, no one raised an arm.

The children's response is why court officials have been showing the video "You Be the Judge" to hundreds of fifth- and sixth-graders since January. The video, filmed by the Huntington Theatre Company, tells the fictional story of a Boston teenager named Bobby Wilson who is left holding a gun his friend used to shoot another teenager after a drug deal gone wrong. Bobby is arrested when his girlfriend, who had urged him to go to the police, refuses to hide the gun for him. His fear of "snitching" leads to a first-degree murder charge and he is left sitting morosely in a courtroom, filled with regret, as a jury decides his fate.

On Monday, the 12 students - sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from the McCormack Middle School in Dorchester - gathered in West Roxbury District Court for a viewing.

The children were older than most of the students who have watched the video, and some had already had brushes with the law. Court officials were worried they would react cynically to the video.

As it played, the children did snicker occasionally, mocking the sometimes stiff acting and melodramatic courtroom scenes. But they paid attention and stayed quiet for most of the film.

"It was good," said Shawn Rowe, a serious, hazel-eyed 15-year-old, afterward. "It seemed like something that could happen."

For others, the video lacked credibility.

"That video wasn't real. It was made by adults," said one 14-year-old eighth-grader who declined to give his name. "If it had been done by kids, it would have been way different."

Asked what he meant, he said that for one thing, most girls he knows would have hidden their boyfriend's gun.

"My girl would take that hammy," he said, referring to the slang word for gun. WHAT?!?!? YOURE 14!!!"I wouldn't," retorted Myiesha, a 14-year-old girl who asked that her last name be withheld.

The video unleashed a torrent of discussion inside the judges lobby, where Kathleen Coffey, the first justice of the West Roxbury court, had invited them to view the film with probation and police officers.

The children debated whether Wilson should be found guilty and if his girlfriend did the right thing - most of them believed she did. They then peppered Coffey and the officers with questions about mandatory gun sentences, why juveniles are sometimes charged as adults, and why police shoot to kill. In turn, the officials asked the children why they do not turn to authority figures when they witness an assault or are the victims of one.

"If you go to the principal, that's going to make things worse," Rowe said. "Because they're going to come after you even more."

The video, which features police officers, court officials, and teenagers from across the city, is part of Reinventing Justice, a volunteer program of police officers, lawyers, and others run by Coffey and designed to make the courts more accessible to the community.

Coffey said they decided to show the film to middle school students because they are more likely influenced by its message than high school students, who have formed firmer opinions about cooperating with police.

Middle school students are at "the turning point," she said. "You still have their attention."

As the students prepared to leave her conference room for a tour of the courthouse, Coffey told them she hoped they would reflect on what they discussed that morning. They would be heading into her courtroom to watch defendants plead their cases. Many of them, Coffey told them, are good people who made "bad decisions."

"What we're talking about is serious," she said. "I pray every night and I'm sure your parents pray every night that you will make good decisions."