Diplock courts

Ok kiddo, have you ever played a game where you had to decide who did something wrong and then punish them? Imagine if we had a game like that but for grown-ups and really serious stuff like crimes. That's what a court is.

Now, sometimes, in some places, there are special courts called Diplock courts. These courts are set up in Northern Ireland and are named after a judge named Lord Diplock. The courts are special because they don't have a jury.

In a normal court, there are lots of people who sit and listen to the case, like a bunch of your classmates. They would then decide if the person on trial is guilty or not. But in Diplock courts, there's only one person, a judge who listens to everything and makes the decision.

These courts were set up in Northern Ireland because, a long time ago, there was a lot of violence between two groups of people who lived there. It was called the Troubles. Because of this violence, some people were too scared to be on a jury.

Nowadays, in Northern Ireland, it's not as bad, but Diplock courts are still used sometimes for very serious crimes, like terrorism or things that could be dangerous for people. The idea is that it's safer for the judge to decide on their own, without anyone else possibly getting hurt because of a decision the jury made.