I've changed my mind about activist judges. The justice system is broke and instead of discourafing activist judges from counteracting a fucked up system we would be better served by demanding they counter act it until it is replaced with a system that is perfect. The cowardly cop in Broward county who let students be gunned down, absolutely should be punished. I just read an article about a woman who made some 12 year old touch clothing over her boob, she recieved a life sentence due to mandatory minimum laws. The judge chastised the prosecutor for bot offering a plea bargain, but really he is allpwed to over turn a juries guilty verdict. We need to do away with idiots like these, who would rather do what conforms to the law as opposed to doing what was right. These judges are no different than the Nazis who claimed they were just following orders, in fact they are worse because they are less likely to face the same consequences as a nazi that spoke out against what Hitler was doing.
Activist Judges
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@Greyparrot
Most judges are elected though. The supreme court is one thing, but both examples cited are not supreme court members.
Judges should be locally elected, with much wider ranging powers imo. The biggest problem with our system is that its so centralized. A stronger, local government will always function better for several reasons. The first is that when most important decisions that effect your life (economic regulations, laws concerning basic institutions like marriage, government spending, crime, etc.) are decided on the local level, then you will pay attention to local elections and vote in them. And if a large number of local people are invested in these elections, they will be able to really hold their elected judges accountable for shitty living conditions. Judges themselves aren't really the problem, its judges (and politicians) who are isolated from the real-world fallout of their actions. As G. K. Chesterton put it, 'it's terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hung today'.
Judges thinking about what will help or hinder them being re-elected when rendering verdicts should scare the bejesus out of everyone.
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@Ramshutu
It has got to be preferable to the current system. Our system has a lot of room for improvement
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@Wylted
It's a really, really complicated issue. I don't want to type it out tonight. Or like in a week. Tbh would be easier to just talk about this in a hangout.
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@disgusted
Isn't the problem with the laws rather than the judges?
If individual judges have too much discrtion it turns court trials into lotteries - depending on which judge you get, you might get 15 years or walk free.
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@Wylted
It has got to be preferable to the current system. Our system has a lot of room for improvement
Any system of government invariably has a lot of room for improvement: but are elected judges preferable to the current system?
Of course not: Justice is about being fair and reasonable. The moment you have individual judges considering their upcoming election and making decisions less of the merits of the case but what will make a plurality of their voters happy - or worse - contributers, you’ll on your way to making justice meaningless.
You already see that with Tort Law and the activities of the Chamber of Justice to work on election helpful judges.
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@keithprosser
If individual judges have too much discrtion it turns court trials into lotteries
ironic isn't it, some of these threads, when you add in those who claim judges are racists etc, give them more power? hhmmm maybe not such a good idea, they are difficult enough to remove. Howz about the judge who colluded with the prosecutor to coordinate the release of the criminal alien out the back door so I.C.E. couldn't get him, judges like that? There's a lot wrong with this idea.