Judicial Reports: The Moral Compass: What Size Justice?
Posted 12-08-06
As a citizen of a small town in Upstate New York, I'm especially concerned about the state of the Town and village Courts in our state. I've been keeping up with the recent media expose on these "Justice" Courts, and the stories being told are appalling. What, if anything, is the court system doing to address this issue?
Based on the recent media reports concerning the state of New York's Town and Village Courts, these so called "Justice Courts" certainly fail to mete out justice, in all too many cases. According to an article in The New York Times published on September 25, 2006, these court proceedings often take place in the offices, basements or living rooms of the Town or Village Justice.
Some 72 percent of the judges in charge of these proceedings are not lawyers. Some have no more than a high school education. And by some accounts, many fail to understand the basic tenets of justice, denying the rights of litigants by failing to allow them access to a lawyer, sending them to jail without a guilty plea or trial, and verbally abusing litigants during court proceedings. Judicial bias and prejudice is hardly unheard of.
These courts, holdovers from Colonial days when justices kept the peace and lawyers were few, make up the large majority of courts in New York State. They employ more than 2,000 justices and handle more than two million cases every year. The daunting size of the Town and Village Justice Court system presents difficulty in its effective monitoring; at the same time, this size also emphasizes the importance of making sure that these courts, the large majority of those in our state, uphold the rights of the state's citizens.
While it is likely that the large majority of Town and Village Justices perform their jobs fairly and justly, it is important that New York State ensure that a high standard of justice is administered uniformly throughout the Justice Court system.
Fortunately, just last week, the courts unveiled an "Action Plan" for town and village courts, which was initiated last June by the New York Office of Court Adminsitration. Among other reforms, this plan would require written transcripts for court proceedings, increased training and supervision for justices, and annual audits of the courts concerning the way they handle fines. It would ensure that indigents are assigned counsel, increase the technology available to these courts, and increase their security budget.
Town and Village Justice Courts are technically controlled not by the state court system, but by localities. Although they do not fall under the auspices of the Unified Court System, it is still imperative that uniformity, and quality of justice, be achieved among them. Now that an action plan has been devised, it is important that the state Legislature act to make sure that the majority, if not all, of the proposed reforms are implemented. Without them, the majority of New York courts, and a good many citizens' only contact with the justice system, will be corroded by potentially shoddy justice. It is important that the Legislature and the courts work together to make sure that these "Justice Courts" are actually just.
Posted by Dirk on December 8, 2006 01:56 AM to Judicial Reports