A Case for Justice

As the witness takes the stand, Charlotte Prince '29 silently reviews the questions she needs to ask. She takes a deep breath, calming her nerves.

After months of preparation, the words come naturally. She delivers each question with the confidence expected of an attorney, settling into a steady rhythm as the trial unfolds.

By the time closing arguments begin, she's helped her team lay out a compelling case.

This is Prince in action, a political science and international studies double major from Bellville, Texas, who's hoping to pursue a career in law. Through Trinity University's Mock Trial Club, she is already tackling her ambitions head-on.

Students in mock trial simulate real courtroom trials, acting as either attorneys or witnesses to argue criminal or civil cases before panels of judges.

Though the cases are fictional, the hands-on experience they provide couldn't be more real. The club has given Prince valuable insight into her future profession, showing her the mindset she needs to be a lawyer.

Participating in mock trial has also taught Prince how a courtroom works and helped her develop skills such as writing direct and cross examinations, the questions attorneys use to examine their own witnesses and challenge opposing witnesses.

Prince continued to learn about the roles of courts during this past spring semester, when she took a class called "International Criminal Justice," which studies how international courts have responded to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, examining their failures or successes in deterring future crimes.

The class deepened her understanding of how the courts are organized, how they function, and how the legal foundations for international prosecution were built. As she was exposed to cases in which the guilty were never punished, Prince also became more aware of the shortcomings within the system.

"There's a deeply disturbing sense of wrongness that there are crimes no one's answered for," Prince says.

That feeling of injustice motivated Prince to keep learning, especially during a trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina this June. The trip was part of the "International Criminal Justice" course's Beyond the Classroom experience and offered Prince and her fellow students a first-hand look into how the history and politics of the region affected real individuals.

Guided by Trinity professors Rosa Aloisi, Ph.D. , and Alfred Montoya, Ph.D. , the group traveled to Sarajevo, Potočari, Srebrenica, and Prijedor, and also took day trips to Mostar and Višegrad. They visited memorials, museums, and other important historical sites.

This included the Srebrenica Memorial Center and Cemetery, established to honor the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

"It is such a profound site," Prince says. "You are in the graveyard, and you just look out on a sea of white headstones. Each one of them was a person who had a name and a family."

As the names of the victims lingered in her mind, she was directly exposed to how and who the international courts had failed.

However, not every atrocity she learned about was memorialized in such an impactful way. In fact, there were many sites of tragedies that lacked any kind of memorial at all.

"People have completely covered up any trace of what happened," she says. "They're trying to rewrite the narrative."

Realizing this has made Prince determined to speak more openly about these iniquities and other complex issues even after the trip ended.

Her experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed for her that pursuing a career in law can be a powerful way to confront and resolve injustice.

As she prepares to take courses in international humanitarian law and constitutional law this upcoming semester and considers a future in aviation or military law, Prince is looking forward to the many endeavors ahead of her. What she witnessed abroad showed her that she can make a meaningful difference, and that realization will continue to motivate her as she pursues those goals at Trinity and beyond.