The Arrest of the Fun Girls - S5-E28
Other mistake: When Andy, Helen, and Thelma Lou are parked in front of the courthouse the lights turn on, and in the closeups from outside both sides of the car, note that both triangular vent windows are missing - the two doors are actually open for these closeups. This happens again later, when Andy and Barney are each apologizing individually to Helen and Thelma Lou.
Answer: As noted in the previous answers, in real life, things like this provided wind and/or rain deflection, and also maintained a bit of privacy when blinds were raised somewhat. The interior courthouse set was located in the studio, so the "outside" Main Street didn't exist. I believe these things were added to the courthouse windows for practicality, to avoid some crew movement being visible on the opposite side of those windows. These are not "window boxes" to hold anything, as they're actually bottomless; we can see the Venetian blind's long pull cords under them. They're made of plywood and simple to build, so the "material and labor" was inexpensive. Similar variations made of different materials are in other movies/shows. In 1957's "12 Angry Men," textured chicken wire glass panels are in the jury room windows, and in "Jesse Stone: Night Passage" another type is in Jesse's office windows.
Super Grover ★