Editing Courthouse (section)

===Security===
[[Image:Entrance_to_the_District_Court_for_Prague_-_West_-_security_check.jpg|thumb|{{Interlanguage link|District Court Prague-West|cs|Okresní soud Praha-západ}} entrance. From left: [[Gun safe|Security box]] where visitors may deposit a firearm, X-ray machine and metal detector frame, officer of the [[Law enforcement in the Czech Republic#State Agencies|Judicial Guard]] in the background.]]
Due to the modalities involved in the hearing of complex cases, including civil, criminal, and family law disputes, the architecture of court buildings can present significant security challenges to enforcement officers. Architects typically use two main tools to mitigate security risks within the adjudicative space depending upon local needs, such as the proliferation of weapons: secure entrance vestibules and separation of circulation pathways and adjacencies within the footprint of the building.<ref>https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/u.s._courts_design_guide_2021.pdf Judicial Conference of the United States "U.S. Courts Design Guide" (2011).</ref>

Secure entrance vestibules provide court staff the opportunity to screen visitors to the building for contraband, such as weapons and narcotics, as well as for unauthorized access. Mid size to larger courthouses often have separate entrances to the building for the public, prisoners, judges, and witnesses. These entrances may be monitored remotely from a central security station. In lower risk settings, the security screening may be more perfunctory and serve as an information desk to direct visitors to the various agencies and offices housed within the court building.

Once users of the court have entered the building through security screenings and access control checkpoints, the circulation systems of passageways through the building provide discrete pathways by which the public, court staff, and in-custody defendants access to courtrooms and other court services, such as attorneys, pretrial and probation services, and clerks' offices. The circulation pathways and adjacency diagrams designed for newer and larger courthouses often ensure that the only place the systems of circulation, including hallways, stairwells, and elevators overlap is within the monitored setting of the courtroom. This reduces the risk of unauthorized access to court materials by the public, such as court clerk record vaults, as well as the risk of in-custody defendants intimidating witnesses or jurors while being escorted through the public areas of the courthouse.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2020-05-20 |title=Adjacency and Circulation |url=https://www.ncsc.org/courthouseplanning/needs-of-persons-with-disabilities/adjacency-and-circulation |access-date=2024-03-13 |website=www.ncsc.org |language=en}}</ref>

For example, the Los Angeles Superior Court added such checkpoints to all entrances to its main courthouse in [[Downtown Los Angeles]] after a woman was shot and killed by her ex-husband in open court in September 1995.<ref name="metnews">{{cite news| author=Kenneth Ofgang| url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/zeli052102.htm| title=State High Court Bars Suit Over Shooting at Downtown Courthouse| work=[[Metropolitan News-Enterprise]]| date=21 May 2002| access-date=2011-03-08| publisher=metnews.com}}</ref> The [[Supreme Court of California]] ruled in 2002 that Los Angeles County (which at the time was responsible for maintaining the courthouses) was not liable to her three children under the California Government Tort Claims Act.<ref name="court">{{cite court| litigants=Zelig v. County of Los Angeles| url=http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C4/27C4t1112.htm 27|reporter=Cal Sup Ct| vol=27|  court=Cal 4th| opinion=1112| date=2002}}</ref>

After the [[Oklahoma City bombing]], the federal government proceeded to heavily fortify all large federal buildings, including many urban courthouses.

Some courthouses in areas with high levels of [[violent crime]] have redundant layers of security. For example, when the [[Supreme Court of California]] hears oral argument in San Francisco or Los Angeles, visitors must pass through one security checkpoint to enter the building, and another to enter the courtroom.

<gallery>
File:Bulloch county courthouse statesboro georgia 2005.jpg|[[Bulloch County Courthouse]] in [[Statesboro, Georgia]]
File:Orange county court house vt.jpg|The [[Orange County, Vermont]] courthouse
File:Lasvegascourthouse.jpg|The federal courthouse in [[Las Vegas]]
File:CrookCountyCourthouse.jpg|The [[Crook County Courthouse]] in [[Prineville, Oregon]]
File:DeKalb County IN Court House.jpg|The DeKalb County Court House in [[Auburn, Indiana]]
File:CabellCountyWVCH.jpg|The Cabell County Court House in [[Huntington, West Virginia]]
File:Side view of Lowndes County Courthouse.JPG|The Lowndes County Courthouse in [[Valdosta, Georgia]]
File:Allegheny County Courthouse in 2016.jpg|The Allegheny County Courthouse in [[Pittsburgh]]
File:Avery County Courthouse in Newland.jpg|The Avery County Courthouse in [[Newland, North Carolina]]
File:Moynihan-courthouse.jpg|The [[Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse]] in [[New York City]]
File:Bergen County Court House.jpg|The [[Bergen County Court House]] in [[Hackensack, New Jersey]]
File:San Francisco County Superior Courthouse.png|The [[San Francisco County Superior Court]]house in the [[San Francisco Civic Center]]
</gallery>