Courtroom 302 cover

Courtroom 302

by Steve Bogira

This book is the story of one year in one courtroom in Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse, the busiest felony courthouse in the country. We see the system through the eyes of the men and women who experience it, not only in the courtroom but in the lockup, the jury room, the judge's chambers, the spectators' gallery. We witness from behind the scenes the highest-profile case of the year, and we follow the cases that are the daily grind of the court. Bogira shows us how the war on drugs is choking the system, and how in most instances justice is dispensed rapidly and mindlessly. The stories that unfold are often tragic, but they no longer seem so to the people who work there. This illumination of our criminal court system raises fundamental issues of race, civil rights, and justice.--From publisher description.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?