But that’s still no excuse for what happened in December when a 15-year-old girl was temporarily held in an outdoor dog run at the Rowan County Courthouse because authorities there couldn’t figure out what else to do with her. The girl, appearing before Judge Ted Blanton with her younger sister after missing 25 days of school, shouted obscenities, according to an officer’s memo. She then created so much noise in a holding cell that it disrupted adjoining courtrooms. She had to be held somewhere until juvenile detention officers arrived, and the unused dog run seemed the only place beyond earshot.

She was there no longer than 15 minutes, according to the sheriff, and was under surveillance during that time. But the real point is not so much potential danger to the defendant as damage to the court’s image as a bastion of dignity and level-headed thought.