Room with a View

In many ways, the traditional U.S. courtroom seems only too well designed for blind justice. Jutting into the room like an oversize Murphy bed, the judge's bench often obstructs the view of jury members so much that they cannot see exhibits that lawyers show the judge. Equally bad, the jury has only a side view of the witness stand and cannot see the fullface expressions of witnesses under questioning. The judge is even worse off: only by craning his neck can he see anything but the back of a witness' head, and he must swivel a full 90DEG to catch jury-box dozers.

A drastically different design (see cut) is now being tested in a Tacoma, Wash., federal district court. Breaking with a pattern that dates back to the Middle Ages, Judge George Boldt, 60, moved his bench into a corner, put the witness stand in his old spot, stationed the jury box so that jurors can look directly at the witness, and gave the attorneys a lectern at which to stand while speaking and questioning witnesses.

After a thorough tryout, Judge Boldt pronounced his new courtroom "greatly preferable" to the old design on a number of counts. Because the jury box and bench are far apart, he found that he could confer with attorneys off the record without having to dismiss the jury --a time-wasting maneuver in other courtrooms. He also noted a "calmness and ease" during trials because "everybody could see and hear without strain." He liked especially his more direct view of the witness stand ("I can practically take a head-on look") and his eyeline relation to the jury ("The judge can look from one juror to another, and each juror understands that he is being spoken to individually"). So many of Judge Boldt's colleagues are enthusiastic about his new courtroom that the Gen eral Services Administration, which bosses the construction of new Govern ment buildings, is considering adopting the design for future federal district courts.

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