Tag: judicial independence

Some thoughts on the effort to recall Judge Aaron Persky

There is currently an effort in Santa Clara, California, to recall Aaron Persky, the Superior Court judge who gave an extraordinarily light sentence to former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner last summer after Turner was found guilty of sexual assault.  Persky sentenced Turner to six months in county jail, far short of the recommendations of prosecutors, after Turner was found to have sexually assaulted a drunk and unconscious woman behind a dumpster.

Turner’s actions were hideous, and it is certainly understandable why a light sentence would be greeted with surprise and even outrage.  And Judge Persky’s standard defense–that any challenge to his discretion would compromise judicial independence–sounds almost ridiculous in this context.  But the recall effort is still a terrible idea.

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Jordanian King stresses judicial independence, competence, efficiency

Jordan’s King Abdullah has endorsed the recommendations of the Royal Committee for Developing the Judiciary and Enhancing the Rule of Law.

The King outlined the priorities of the council; namely, accelerating litigation and the execution of court rulings, establishing specialised courtrooms and better harnessing technology to serve the set goals of judicial reform.

His Majesty stressed that the economic and investment environment cannot be improved without an effective and independent judiciary.

He underlined the importance of supporting judges and improving their competence with continuous training.

Other Arab countries have similarly recognized in recent years that a stable and competent judicial system is critical to economic growth.  But it is one thing to support judicial independence and the rule of law in principle, and quite another to maintain those values in a challenging political climate.

European Commission releases 2017 EU Justice Scoreboard

Cribbing from the press release:

Today, the European Commission publishes the 2017 EU Justice Scoreboard which gives a comparative overview of the efficiency, quality and independence of justice systems in the EU Member States.

Its aim is to assist national authorities to improve the effectiveness of their justice systems. Compared to previous editions, the 2017 Scoreboard looks into new aspects of the functioning of justice systems, for example, how easily consumers can access justice and which channels they use to submit complaints against companies. For the first time, it also shows the length of criminal court proceedings relating to money laundering offences.

One of the more interesting sets of findings goes to public perception of the member states’ judicial independence.  More after the jump.

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UK judges address attacks by populist press

The High Court of England and Wales ruled in November that the United Kingdom could not trigger “Brexit” without parliamentary assent.  The decision was affirmed in January, but anger about the additional procedural requirement remained. Now, the members of the High Court are now speaking out about the nature of the attacks leveled on them by the British press in the wake of the ruling.

Key bit:

“Criticism is very healthy. If you have got something wrong, fine, but there is a difference between criticism and abuse,” Thomas told the same committee a week ago.  “It’s the only time in the whole of my judicial career that I’ve had to ask for the police to give us a measure of advice and protection in relation to the emotions that were being stirred up,” he said.

South Korean judges threatened after impeachment vote

UPI is reporting threats to the safety of the judges of South Korea’s Constitutional Court, who unanimously voted last week to uphold the impeachment of the country’s president, Park Guen-Hye.  The judges will receive round-the-clock protection.

Background on the Park impeachment and subsequent court decision at the links.