This is the second of a three-part series on their observations. She was there to testify against a teen-ager charged with burning her with a cigarette and cutting her with a knife. Her hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m., as were 26 others. The scarred little girl and her family would wait. Juvenile court occupies the basement and first floor of a dingy brick building on Forbes Avenue in Oakland.
Ceilings leak from time to time.
Public restrooms reek. This was the second time the little girl would wait. The first was Sept. 18, when the trial was originally scheduled. After hours of delay that day, the case was postponed to Oct. 9. All juvenile courts deal in misery, but conditions in Allegheny County's compound the suffering.