Not a civics class, but an environmental charity.

Maybe the environmental charity was visiting a courtroom because environmental conscientiousness sometimes involves engaging with government processes through the courts, and a courtroom visit would make that abstraction more concrete.

Or maybe the environmental charity has an at-risk youth program component, and someone thought it would be a good idea to confront teens with some of the undesirable reality of getting into crime.

In either case, the judge might or might not have been in the loop on that. They might've just been in default mode, where they see bad and troubled behavior every day, all day.

> Power tripping

Exactly this. How can it be seen in any other way? Why do these people have such power to do this to someone who isn’t breaking any law?

I appreciate that someone needs to take responsibility for a decision over a trial, but for someone not involved in a trial?

What repercussions are there for a judge to behave like this? This is some major authoritarian judge dredd shit.