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It seems to me that judges are drawn exclusively from an upper stratum of society that is insulated from reality, to a large extent.
Real Life Judges are the new breed. They have worked as labourers, take time off to build homes for the disabled and poor and have seen enough of life to know that
misfortune sometimes befalls people through no fault of their own.
The judiciary is one of the last bastions of privilege that has yet to fall.
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And who's to say current judges don't do all that ? Unlike politicians it's not really in their best interest to partake in photo-opps. |
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Ever been to West Virginia? |
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baked. It's called a Kangaroo Court. In essence, a bunch of good 'ol boys with some old-fashioned, down-home life's experience, but not a lick of legal education or tolerance among them. I'll post a link if you haven't figured out what I'm referring to. |
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Now if we can just get him to google it. |
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In Kentucky they're called "magistrates." |
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I wasn't really referring to those cultural backwaters where judges are elected or obtain appointment via the barrel of a gun, but the civilised world, where they are appointed from the existing ranks of highly experienced, silvertail lawyers. |
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Those guys are seriously out of touch with the bulk of society. It's an egregious, sickening form of cronyism, that they operate in a closed shop environment, buffered from reality. |
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//they are appointed from the existing ranks of highly experienced, silvertail lawyers//
There is a good reason for this. The lawyers have had the same legal training that judges require in order to do their jobs. Train someone to be a judge, and they will also know enough to be a lawyer. |
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//buffered from reality//
I suppose that having heard hundreds of cases of theft, rape, drug dealing etc in detail they know nothing about theft, rape, drug dealing or anything like that. They couldn't possibly know as much as say the police, who tell them everything in court. |
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Doesn't work that way in most of Europe, where judges undergo a specific course in advocacy. Justice in Germany and France are remarkably balanced nowadays. |
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As for seeing more of crime than the average... I note I was always rejected by jury selection panels, because of my background as a repo officer. The argument is that those who regularly see the seedy side of life become innured to it, developing a jaundiced view of society. |
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//developing a jaundiced view of society// |
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Which would make you subconsciously overestimate the odds of someone being a criminal and more likely to return a guilty verdict than you should. Which would directly violate the defendants right to a fair trial. |
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But the judge doesn't determine guilt, he determines the punishment. The judge must hand out punishments that are consistent with other punishments for similar offenses. To do this he must have extensive knowledge of previous cases. |
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//But the judge doesn't determine guilt, he determines the punishment// |
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Only in jury trials. They're not as common as television shows would have you believe. |
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There's also that wacky little quirk in US law, in a number of states, where mandatory sentencing is applicable. That's probably responsible for a large proportion of the 1 in 100 US citizens currently in prison. 7.3 million USians are on remand, in prison or on parole or probation. WTF? |
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That sounds like a good start. |
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//There's also that wacky little quirk in US law, in a number of states, where mandatory sentencing is applicable// |
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That's a system specifically designed to override the judges' decision with that of the politicians. Blame the politicians for that one. |
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Now I understand why you want to shoot them. |
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