YOUNGSTOWN — Eighth-grade students at Boardman Glenwood Junior High School asked Judge Maureen Sweeney about the death penalty, when they toured the Mahoning County Courthouse for Law Day.

The students make one trip each year to the courthouse to learn more about the law and other government functions that take place at the courthouse.

Sweeney told the students on Wednesday that she has presided over seven death-penalty cases during her time as a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge.

Some were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and one is on death row, she said.

Some of the students were interested in knowing how deaths are treated when they happen as a result of a crash.

The judge said a person at fault in a fatal crash often is charged with something like vehicular manslaughter.

She noted that a person charged with killing someone in that manner usually does not get prison time.

“When you drive a car, you’re supposed to maintain control of that vehicle no matter what the circumstances,” the judge said.

She pointed out that the driver of a car that was involved in a crash that was not the driver’s fault would not be charged. “That wasn’t your fault. How can you be charged with that? It’s going to be the person who (caused the crash) who is going to be charged.”

Another student asked how mental illness affects a person’s punishment for crimes. The judge explained that some people are sent to a hospital for treatment, but in cases of lower-level crimes, they can be placed into a diversion program such as the mental health court she runs.

“If you make it through the entire two years, your charge goes away,” she said.

The students sat through a plea hearing for a defendant charged with multiple passing bad checks charges. The man was in court in a jail jumpsuit because he is an inmate in the county jail.

Cheryl Metzel, a science teacher at the school who accompanied the students, said that because the students learn about the court system in their history classes, it’s beneficial for them to see it in action.

She said the students enjoy seeing an actual court case, but they also like the trip to the basement of the courthouse, where they get to see a holding cell used temporarily to hold defendants.

Students can go inside a cell, and sometimes deputies will put handcuffs on a student so they can learn what it feels like. They also are interested in knowing more about how juvenile court operates because some of the defendants are close to their age, she said.