Asymmetrical Information

Sounds like the "Old Gray Hag" is trying to spearhead another victory of form over function. Is there a lawyer under-employment problem in upstate NY?

Ah, a fresh post, so I'll repeat my comment from yesterday. Two days left to vote for Asymmetrical Information as best business blog for the Weblog Awards. (Yes, the category isn't a perfect fit, but who cares.) You can vote once each day.

http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_business_blog.php

The tone of the article seems to really want to push the feeling that the judge is probably extorting sexual favors - despite no evidence or accusations towards him.

This is a horrible article. Even though it may be unusual for a judge to be doing this - it may be that the judge genuinely cares and wants to help these young men.

The author may think there is an ulterior motive - but there seems to not be any evidence of it. Talk about biased reporting - and the tone is clearly trying to destroy the judge's character with what it's NOT saying.

This guy seems off the wall to me. We need to sic O'Reilly on him.

It'll take a few dozen more repetitions to move this story into Augusta National territory. The Newspaper of Broken Record being what it is, it may well get them.

OT: Check out the name of this strike-beset construction company. Live from the WTC!

I found a bit of humor in the article. A 20-year-old with a long arrest record that included fighting was told to meet with the 70-something judge at night in a deserted building. He said it made him "feel uncomfortable." Uh, shouldn't it have been the judge who should have been uncomfortable? You just know that someday soon, one of these defendants is going to turn on the judge, when there's no one around to assist, and that'll be the end of the judge.

Nothing like a good moral crusade to get the NYT's liberal juices flowing...

Plus they get to tell the local yokels how things should be done.

What's not to like?

"a topic that has aroused, as far as I can tell, exactly no interest outside of the editorial offices of the New York Times"

As the article noted, the topic HAS in fact aroused interest outside 43rd Street. The NY Senate and Assembly has convened hearings and the NY Court of Appeals has begun to reform the courts. So the Times got the government action it was looking for, no?

The state judiciary has been trying to reform the courts ever the so called Unified Court System was created years ago. The state has one set of courts, counties another set of courts, cities a third set of courts, and the towns & villages a fourth set of courts. And they all have a different set of civil procedure rules. As I recall, about 60% of the town & village justices are not attorneys, but then, they are part-time jobs that pay somewhere around $15K per year.

Justice is far from even handed, but that is true in any court system, and for the most part, justice is fair, even if not even handed.

But I have to admit that I am partial to the system in Virginia, where there is one court system operating under the same set of civil procedure rules. Virginia has independent cities (cities are NOT considered to be part of the county where they are situated; they are truly independent), so the courts are all in the cities and counties. At the District Court level, all preliminary hearings are heard, as are all traffic and misdemeanor cases. There are no juries. Appeals are had to the Circuit Courts, which hear felonies and appealed cases from the District Courts. This is where juries are permitted. (Either side has the right to insist on a jury trial, and the sentencing is done by the jury. Juries tend to award stiffer sentences than judges do.) This system doesn't waste a lot of resources having jury trials at the lower levels, and most people are satisfied with the results of the non-jury proceedings at the District Court level.

The NY State Government is the most corrupt and unresponsive of all the states. It is controlled by the leaders of the Assembly, Senate, and the Governor. There is NO right to initiative, referendum, or recall. The government routinely violates its own rules on borrowing. The state's highest court just ruled that the Governor exceeded his authority in allowing an Indian Casino to open, yet they do nothing about it.

So are you surprised that they would like to stamp out any independent judicial authority in the state? Do you think the Times is anything less than a willing partner in this effort?

Upstate NY is a great place to live, if you can afford it. No traffic and little pollution, because we've driven all the young people out of the state along with all the industry. I'm being sarcastic here, but that is what it has come to.

I'm a Texan when I retire.

Bizarre. I have to agree with Jane that the tone of the story makes it appear as if the Judge is trying to extort some sort of sexual favors from the criminals in the story without of course presenting any sort of evidence. The “I’m afraid to comment about the judge but I’ll give you my name for your story so you can infer the worst” was a particular nice touch.

Personally, I kind of like the idea of sending them out to chop firewood for the village.

The September articles were actually good. They noted real problems with the poor system. This article was trash. If they have evidence that the judge was extorting the defendents, they should print it. If they don't, they should not imply it. The judge's inappropriate behaviour is a legitimate story, but it is not big news. If I were a local, I'd find it a story of interest because I sure as hell would not want a criminal who victimized me to be so cozy with the judge.

There was a time when the New York Times paid particular attention to crimes in Bedford, New York and on the upper West Side of Manhattan. A series of crimes against doormen in West Side coops once rated an above-the-fold left column prominence. One might guess that the coverage reflected the residential choices of key Times editors and dignitaries.

One might similarly suggest that one or more key NYT editors ran afoul in some way of the town justice system and wants it done away with. Note that there have been no suggestions for significant initial training and continuing education requirements for judges that are not lawyers. The NYT just wants the system gone.

One would hope that the paper's ombudsperson might dig into the origins of the series and the story.

I found the earlier article through TheLawEastofEalingBroadway, which is a blog by the English equivalent of a JP. He found that article shocking, as do I if the factual allegations are actually true. This one, though, seems to be working overly hard to make something sinister out of what are probably just judges that step outside of the rules to try different methods of rehabilitating some young criminals, rather than just feeding them into a system that usually sees them making repeated appearances back in court for new crimes.

Yes, there is a problem with judicial impartiality when the judge gets so closely involved with the criminal. (And yes, I am concerned that sometime the criminal will get a month's head start before they even find the judge's body.) However, the previous article already showed many worse violations, e.g. judges taking cases involving their friends and deciding in their favor. All this article adds is cases where there's an ostensible good reason for breaking the rules, and no evidence that anything else is going on except some young thug's "discomfort".

Maybe its just me, but I got the strong sense, perusing the article, that if the judge in question were suitably urban and had the right pedigree, the exact same article would be lauding him for his "innovative approach to sentancing".

I like the way the Mayor of Keeseville (who might know a bit of what's happening in his village) rates a four word quote ("...said Justice Head had 'performed well for us.'"). This is immediately followed by seven paragraphs about "a high school dropout with a long arrest record" who has "a different impression." The juxtaposition is worthy of Scrappleface.

Another important point: "Justice Head... declined repeated requests for an interview." I think this article will discourage other judges from following suit.

the exact same article would be lauding him for his "innovative approach to sentancing".

...only on Friday at 4pm before a long weekend. Otherwise, the copy editor would have corrected it.

anony: Back in the good old days when copy editors actually proofread, they would have corrected "sentancing". Now, they turn a spellchecker program loose, and it probably changes it to "seances".

Yeah, I got the impression as well that the writer was subtly pushing the pederasty button. From a literal reading though, ignoring the innuendo, this Judge Head seems only to be a typical small-town judge who really did care about getting these kids on the right track.

Mind, this ain't an opinion on the appropriateness of his behavior within what should be a neutral and competent legal system.

Megan, it certainly wasn't only "just you." I thought for sure that there was going to be a Paul Harveyesqe "Rest of the Story" where we heard sexual abuse charges against this 'judge'. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop, and it never did.

I was left wondering what the point of the story was, and what the judge was actually doing wrong.

The article wants to make more of the story than actually exists. So it sets mood and tone without delivering the actual goods.

The judge could very well just be a really decent chap. I'm amazed he can hold such a position without a degree in anything - let alone law - but sometimes the less you know the wiser you are. His eccentric method of dealing with crooks can't be any worse or less effective than prison.

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