Criminal Defendants: What I Learned

Want to know what defendants really think about their experience with the judicial system? Add Courthouse Confessions to your reading list. It is a blog by Steven Hirsch, and he interviews people as they leave the courthouse. In many ways, it reads like a more real-life version of Esquire Magazine's What I've Learned series.

Some gems:

Moral of the story is my friends, hang with people in your caliber. Ifyour a person person hang with good people. That's the moral of thisstory. I'm a good person. I consider myself a good person. On a scaleof one to ten I consider myself an eight.Timothy Jones

I kinda felt better on the sofa than I did feel in jail. 'Cause I don'thave like a violent history, I don't have no crime, I don't have norecord, period. Honestly, I should've stayed at home, it would've beenmore comfortable.Jamali Brockett

I just got out on five hundred dollars bail and I'm stressed out andI'm mad but um this is life, so this is what it is. Come to find outthe marijuana that was supposed to be sold was Lipton tea.Tyrone Carter

I'm here on assault charges which I obviously didn't do. All theassaults that I actually have done, I've never been to court for. Daniel Sbarra

Let me say on the record, I'd like to apologize to the City Of New Yorkfor taking a pee. I'd like to apologize to the garbage man that took mypee away in a garbage truck. There's a reason that garbage man getspaid more then the police. Mark Mark Mark

Never buy phones off the streets. You know, I gotta go to a store anddo like everybody else does. I'm not really interested in phones, longas I can make a call, you know? Cori DeSilva

Actually I'm proud and happy that I hit the cops. They deserve it. I feel better. Now I feel better.Evan Munoz

Graffiti is a part of my life. I start when i was a kid. Its like aspirit, it's my life. I'm a student in graffiti design. Writing on thewall is like I was here, I was in New York, I was in Paris, I was inAmsterdam. It's like a dog make a pee on the wall. I'm animal.Esteban Gonzalez

So she actually gave me a second chance at getting community service.So when I signed up for community service and they gave me the dates toappear I got drunk again and lost the paper work. Ian Jernigan

As long as I don't sell no more weed to uncover cop, I'm good money. Kevin Dorsey

In my opinion drugs, selling drugs in my opinion is not a crime, in myopinion.... I'm not doing a publicservice but in my opinion at the time I was doing more like anentrepreneurship, an opportunist, I saw a large market, decided to gofor it, supplied their demand.Jonathan Sierra

I stole a bra. I did. 'cause I wanted it, and I didn't have enoughmoney.... Sure, I would [do it again.]I had so much fun coming here to court, I met beautiful people, and Isaw that it's not as bad as you think. They were all laughing, thewhole time through, we were laughing, joking. Stay good, don't do badthings, you know? Do good things, don't steal. Janet Braha

I may look like sh*t right now, but when I dress up and do my hair, andeverything, I look very elegant, very classy. But my dream is to keepstudying politics and run for the presidency when I get older.... I'm not gonna say that I'm gonna win, but I can say that I'm gonna trymy hardest, because I have a lot of great ideas on a lot of differentthings, and I think I can make a difference and make a change, a betterchange in the world.... I feel that I'm qualifiedfor that. Judy Guadalupe Schiller Perez Aversa