Courtroom Design: Security, Sightlines, Accessibility, and Technology Integration
Courtroom design is a constraint-solving exercise: security, sightlines, accessibility, and technology compete for the same volume. This exam tests whether you can resolve them without compromising any one.
Core rules and concepts
- Security: single public entry with screening; separate judge entry; prisoner entry from sallyport and holding; duress alarm at bench and clerk; clear sightline from bench to gallery.
- Sightlines: judge must see witness, jury, counsel, and gallery; jury must see witness and exhibits; public must see proceedings. Avoid columns, low ceilings, and deep galleries.
- Accessibility: accessible route to all participant areas; wheelchair space in gallery and at counsel table; assistive listening; adjustable lectern; line of sight over seated heads.
- Technology: evidence display visible to jury, bench, counsel, and public; document camera; video conferencing; hearing loop; cable pathways and power at tables.
Worked example
A courtroom has a 30-inch aisle. That fails the usual 36-inch minimum clear width, with 44 inches preferred in public seating. For a 100-seat gallery, provide the code-calculated wheelchair spaces and companion seats, integrated rather than at the rear. A jury box raised 24 inches above the floor blocks wheelchair access; add a ramp or platform lift and verify a level sightline to the witness stand.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating sightlines as only “judge sees witness.”
- Forgetting wheelchair space at counsel table.
- Placing the AV rack in a secure zone without ventilation or service access.
- Confusing assistive listening with full accessibility compliance.