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Judging Crimes is a blog about criminal law, violent crime and the judiciary, dedicated to making the liberal case for greater democratic control of the criminal justice system.  It's a "view from the trenches" because it's written by a practitioner, not an academic or journalist.  It examines the changing role of the judiciary in American society by looking at what judges actually do, rather than what they say.  I know what they do because I deal with the consequences every day. 

Opinions issued by judges, from Supreme Court justices on down, are justifications for the exercise of governmental power.  But it is the exercise of power itself that should command our attention, not the justifications.  Judging Crimes is concerned with the reality of judicial power rather than the verbal formulas used to defend it. 

American law professors have long liked to say they teach their students "to think like a lawyer."  Learning to think that way is a matter of internalizing certain assumptions.  The practice of judging is likewise based on a foundation of shared assumptions, among them that the United States Constitution -- a document of 8,335 words, the length of a book chapter -- provides an answer to every question.  Rather like a Ouija board.

These assumptions are so ingrained -- and their internalization is so necessary to the successful practice of law -- that most people who subscribe to them aren't even aware of having done so.  Judging Crimes will try to engage not just with the expressions of judicial power, but with the assumptions on which those expressions  rest.  

Judging Crimes won't be filled with daily entries commenting on the day's events or provide a best-of-the-web welter of links.  Many other blogs already do that, far better than I could hope to do.  (Check out these.)  Instead, Judging Crimes will contain pieces of a length that might seem long for a blog but would be short in a serious magazine.  I hope to post new pieces several times a week.

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« 25. Judicial Salaries | Main | 23. Three Sides to Every Case »
Sunday
Dec182005

24. KC Judicial Corruption

Crime Scene KC reported a couple months ago that former Kansas City Municipal Judge Deborah Neal was sentenced above the Guidelines range for soliciting "loans" from lawyers appearing before her.  According to the information filed by the U.S. Attorney's office, her scheme continued for eight years, showing again just how easy it is for judges to get away with extortion.   (Here's the press release.)

The solicitation of "loans" was also the technique used by Pittsburgh's Judge Joseph Jaffe.  My guess is that it happens about a hundred times for each time it makes a U.S. Attorney's press release.  It's not just that lawyers are understandably reluctant to put their ability to practice their profession on the line (see post 12), but that federal prosecutors are reluctant to go forward without an airtight case.  The Pittsburgh prosecutor had a videotape of Judge Jaffe taking money.  Things apparently unraveled for Judge Neal after she was caught in a police raid at an illegal casino. 

AuthorJoel Jacobsen | CommentPost a Comment | | |
DateSunday, December 18, 2005 at 11:21PM in

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