Crime never sleeps.  But the courts tend to snooze a bit.  There are two down times every year as a result of the same forces that drive the rest of humanity.  The month of August is generally dead, because judges go on vacation or seminars or a combination thereof.  And then there’s the week between Christmas and New Years.

No matter what is happening, this week is dead.  There are no trials.  No one would have the balls to call for a jury panel this week.  There are no court appearances.  There may be the occasional arraignment, assuming somebody has done something bad enough to get themselves busted during a week that almost no one gets arrested, but otherwise the hallways are empty and the courtrooms are quiet.  Even lawyers are away on vacation.  Because they work so hard they need it.

For those defendants whose crimes preclude them from being with their families over the holidays, they will sit in jail this week.  No one in the system is thinking about them this week.

It’s a good time to get that work done that requires some extra time and quiet.  It’s a great week to read transcripts and work on an appeal.  But that would interfere with vacation, or perhaps just doing nothing without feeling guilty about it. 

Because of the needs of the system, criminal defense lawyers tend to fashion their vacation schedules around the  courts.  Not that we don’t take other vacations as well, but why be here, ready for work, when there’s no judge screaming for your head or demanding your readiness for trial. 

For the first time in about 2 decades, I am happy to say that I am not going away this week.  For many years, my standard was to leave on Christmas day, a wonderful day for travel since everybody else is already where they are supposed to be, and see family living far away.  This year, I’m staying home.  It’s a thrill to have nowhere to go, and to know that I have a week that is absolutely, totally dead.

There isn’t likely to be much news this week either.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t find something to post about, though it may well be less controversial than usual.  The whole Christmas thing makes it unseemly to be too critical about anything at the moment, as if it betrays an ugliness of spirit.  It may not be my religious holiday, but there’s nothing wrong with the concept of peace on earth, goodwill toward others.  

So I will be around here this week, posting as usual.  But I’m going to try to be a little more circumspect about the tone of my posts in the spirit of the holidays.  I hope it doesn’t kill me.