2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 40

Community Partner:
Office of the State’s Attorney for
Baltimore City
Intern: Seunghyun Natalia Woo
Site Supervisor: Shalik Fulton
What is the Office of the State’s
Attorney?
The Office of the State’s Attorney
for Baltimore City (BCSAO) is
responsible for the prosecution
of all crimes that occur in Balti-
more City. Employing over 200
attorneys and an additional 200
administrative and support staff,
the BCSAO is the largest local
prosecutorial office in the state
of Maryland and prosecutes over
40,000 cases each year.
Baltimore City has been one of the leading centers of criminal justice reform and activism in the Unit-
ed States. The State’s Attorney’s Office for Baltimore City has been working to provide justice over
conviction and build public trust, whether on police prosecutions or providing community programs
for previously incarcerated members. Overall, I have been fortunate enough to be exposed to differ-
ent legal environments and programs that provided moments to learn. During the internship, I was
able to sit on homicide trials of high profile cases, learning the various tactics and motions of a trial.
But watching both the victim and defendant’s family crying in the corner of the courtroom, I will never
forget the heavy weight hanging over their reality. Nor, will I forget watching the body camera foot-
age of a prosecuted police officer, who misused force on an unarmed man. Through this internship,
I have grown to respect and love Baltimore, a city of determined community members who strive to
shape reform.
However, my experience at the State’s Attorney’s Office has been mostly curated by the 60 Youth-
Workers at the Junior State’s Attorney Program, who I supervise on a daily basis. Whenever I mention
that I supervise 60 incoming high school students, people gasp and ask how I manage this particular
age group. In complete honesty, this was one of my most challenging internships and experiences.
On the first day, I had a fair share of students who talked back or had attitudes towards instruction.
One of the students even shut the light off and walked out because I had mispronounced her name.
But as the weeks progressed, my students are the reason I come in to work every day; I would do
anything to support them. I have learned that these Junior State’s Attorneys are at the confusing age
of displaying inevitable childish immaturity while manifesting the maturity to deal with normalized
trauma. For example, some students skipped lunch because they did not have the lunch money or
food at home to eat. Others confided about difficult family dynamics at home. Yet, I am so humbled
by their resilience and desire to come in every day to work, despite all the dealt challenges. Coming
into this internship, I had initially wanted to utilize this experience to build my academic and profes-
sional career. However, I have come to realize that my goals for the internship have changed: I want
to support and be a resource to the students’ dreams and aspirations. I am here for them.
• Designed and supervised the Junior States’ Attorney
Program, consisting of 60 YouthWorkers who are en-
tering high school. Tasks included creating mock trial
fact pattern sheets, case materials, and trial scripts as
well as teaching the YouthWorkers on current events,
civics and conducting the mock trial
• Developed and facilitated #PopUp Baltimore City
community events every Friday night
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