CASSOPOLIS — The Cass County Law and Courts Building in Cassopolis will soon be getting a temporary makeover.

The typically bare and serious walls will soon be covered in colorful images, some comic book-esque depictions of a scene, others landscapes or containing words of affirmation, all of which will have been hand-drawn by area grade-school students.

To kick off National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the law and courts building will be showcasing student artwork submissions for the courts’ annual “Going to Court” booklet, which is given to youthful crime victims as part of their courtroom preparation.

The artwork submissions, which are based around the theme of going to court, will be on display in the court building from April 8 to 14, after which submissions will be chosen to be included in the “Going to Court” booklet. This year, Cassopolis, Dowagiac and Marcellus students will be submitting artwork for the competition.

“I think this is a great program. It’s good for the kids,” said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz.

The “Going to Court” booklet, including all the student artwork included in it, is distributed to dozens of young crime victims every year, Fitz said.

“We’ve gotten some great work over the years,” he said.

The booklets contain basic information a young crime victim would need to know, explained in simple language, such as what an arraignment is, what a jury is and what documents like a subpoena are. The booklet also contains images of rooms in the courthouse a victim might enter and the images of people the victim may interact with, such as lawyers and judges.

“[The booklet] just helps make the justice system make a little more sense [to young crime victims],” Fitz said.

Fitz also said that the inclusion of student artwork can help young crime victims relate to the information in the booklet and can help calm them in what can be a distressing time.

“This really does help the little kids,” Fitz said. “They are often pretty intimidated by the system, being in a place they don’t know with a bunch of adults they don’t know. So, seeing something similar to what they might be doing in school, definitely does help the kids.”

The images chosen from the artwork that will be displayed in the courts building starting next week are chosen carefully, Fitz said.

The images that are included are not only the best pieces of art, but the ones that are thought to be the most beneficial to young victims of crime. This is why if someone were to flip through an old copy of the “Going to Court” booklet, they would find pages of words of affirmation, such as “be brave and honest for court!” or “If you’re scared, don’t [be], because in court all your problems will fade away!” or “you will get through it.”

Hearing these positive messages from other children their own age can be beneficial to reassuring young crime victims, Fitz said.

Fitz said that not only young crime victims benefit from the “Going to Court” booklet images, but that it also benefits the students drawing the images and those who see the artwork. He added that he would encourage anyone who was interested to give the artwork submissions a look if they had the chance.

“We get some really great stuff, and it makes [my staff and I] smile every day when we walk past it,” he said. “These kids are so creative, and we love to give them a chance to shine.”