It's now well-known that New York has the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation. But The New York Times has run a provocative and disturbing series which suggest that New York's judiciary might be even worse!
One example cited was a woman the northern town of Malone a mother of four, she went to court in that North Country village seeking an order of protection against her husband, who the police said had choked her, kicked her in the stomach and threatened to kill her. The justice, Donald R. Roberts, a former state trooper with a high school diploma, not only refused, according to state officials, but later told the court clerk, "Every woman needs a good pounding every now and then."
The Times noted that while [o]fficially a part of the state court system, yet financed by the towns and villages, the justice courts are essentially unsupervised by either. State court officials know little about the justices, and cannot reliably say how many cases they handle or how many are appealed. Even the agency charged with disciplining them, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, is not equipped to fully police their vast numbers.
I've never been a fan of New York's system of electing judges. Imagine you're accused of child molestation, basically the worst crime in society's eyes. Child molestation is the Salem of our time: accusation equals guilt. Maybe not in the law's eyes, but certainly in society's eyes.
But if judges are elected, then society's eyes suddenly matter. If you're falsely accused of this or some other high profile heinous crime, would you want your life and liberty to be put in the hands of someone who's putting his own fate before the fickle voters in two months?
And New York's judges are subject not just to elections, but partisan elections. You run for a judgeship as a Democrat or Republican or Conservative, etc. The municipal or county party leadership has a role in whether you even get nominated. Judges should first and foremost jurists, not someone who owes his job to partisan hacks.
The series makes for chilling reading. Part one can be accessed here. Links to parts two and three are accessible there.
No comments:
Post a Comment