"Armed with a camera, Thomas Roma spent fourteen months in the corridors of the Brooklyn Criminal Court Building, documenting lives transformed by the workings of the law. Arriving early, he would see the hallways filling with victims, defendants, and trial witnesses; with families, girlfriends, and boyfriends; with lawyers, translators, and undercover cops.

In the confines of this oppressive atmosphere, fraught with accusation and judgment, Roma made evocative and empathetic portraits of these people as they awaited the fall of a gavel.".

"What we notice is not just the slow passing of time, as the accused and their accusers trudge through the isolating bureaucracy of the U.S. judicial system, but more importantly the time Roma spent interacting with his subjects, hearing their stories, and photographing them with a remarkable insight into their states of being in this much despised no-man's land."--BOOK JACKET.