Judges and Judging: Public Confidence and the Legitimacy of Law

Judges and Judging:Public Confidence and the

Legitimacy of Law

Sharyn Roach Anleu Kathy Mack School of Social & Policy Studies Law School

Flinders UniversityGPO Box 2100, Adelaide, Australia

[email protected]

Public Lecture Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Law School

Strathclyde University, Glasgow

7th April 2011

mailto:[email protected]

A judicial officer’s view

Judicial Research Project Flinders University

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It is a difficult job but one that leads to a great deal of satisfaction if you feel you are performing it as well as you can. It is not however a job which you should rely on the gratitude of others nor is it a job for the ambitious. The constancy of the job can be very wearing over time. There are few jobs that you are on public ‘display’ 5 hours a day 45 weeks of the year. … The pressure of case loads seems to impact on the quality of decision making at all levels. … Some judicial appointments have potentially not contributed to the standing of the judiciary – but overall the quality of justice is meeting the demands of contemporary society – but not perfectly.


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Magistrates Research ProjectJudicial Research Project

Consulting interviews with magistrates in all states and territories (2001)

National Survey of Australian Magistrates (2002) National Court Observation Study (2004) National Survey of Australian Judges (2007) Second National Survey of Australian Magistrates

(2007) Judicial Workload Allocation Study (2008)


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High Court of Australia(n=7)

Family Court of Australia

(n=39)

Federal Magistrates

Court(n=45)

Federal Court of Australia

(n=45)

Supreme Court(Appeal and Trial)

(n=187)

District/County Courts

(n=221)

Magistrates/Local Courts

(n=456)As at 3 March 2011: Source: AIJA

The Australian court system

Women in the Australian judiciary by court


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2000 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100% Women in the Judiciary by Court

Magistrates Courts District Courts Supreme Courts Commonwealth Courts

All Courts

Perc

enta

ge o

f wom

en

Source: AIJA Note: no data available for 2003

The decision to become a judge/magistrate

Kind of work 92% Intellectual challenge 85% Job security 69% Value to society 68% Diversity of work 65%


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Whole Judiciary (n = 540-549)

Source: National Surveys 2007


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Satisfaction: Overall work

Importance to the community 97% Overall work 92% Level of responsibility 91% Intellectual challenge 87% Varied and interesting 86%

Whole Judiciary (n=535-545)



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Satisfaction: Working conditions

Working relations with court staff 92% Geographic location

90% Working relations with other

judges/magistrates 85% Compatibility with lifestyle

77% Salary 76%




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Satisfaction

Overall, I’ve enjoyed it. You only find out if you have an aptitude for it when you actually do it. Some of the best lawyers find they can’t make decisions, and their life becomes hell. I have found I can make decisions for others, and sleep at night. I’m one of the lucky ones.


Essential skills/qualities for judicial work

Impartiality 91% Integrity/high ethical standards 90% A sense of fairness 79% Communication 76% Legal knowledge 62%


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Whole judiciary (n=546-548)


Essential interpersonal skills for judicial work

Communication 76% Being a good listener 56% Courtesy 55% Patience 50% Interpersonal skills 37% Compassion 33%


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Stress: Volume of work Volume of work unrelenting 74%

Judicial functions Increased 58%

Non-judicial functions Increased 54%




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Legal representation

Supreme Court

(n=111)

District/County Court

(n=128)

Magistrates(n=239- 240)

Legal representatives are well prepared:Always/often 70% 47% 38%

My time is taken up explaining things to unrepresented litigants:Always/often

10% 5% 58%


Making decisions is very stressful


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Strongly

agree/agree, 38%

Neutral, 27%

Strongly dis-

agree/

dis-agree, 35%

Magistrates (n=238)



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National Court Observation Study General criminal list 30 court sessions 27 different magistrates 20 locations 1,287 matters

Time per matter


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0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

time (minutes)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Freq

uenc

y

15 second intervals

(n=1,254)

Time per matter


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5% 15 seconds or less 25% 1 minute or less 50% 2 minutes 20 seconds or less 95% less than 15 minutes

Average time per matter:4 minutes, 13 seconds

(n= 1,287)


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Stress: Emotions, sleep, health Judges

Magistrates (n=304-305) (n=239-

240)

My work is emotionally draining Always/often 31% 47% Sometimes 53% 41%

Difficult decisions keep me awake Sometimes 36% 29% Rarely/never 52% 62%

I am concerned about my health Sometimes 36% 42% Rarely/never 49% 36%Source: National Surveys 2007


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Time on domestic work: All judges by gender

Whole Judiciary (n=538)

35%

19%

54%49%

8%

31%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

< 5 hours 5-14 hours > 15 hours

Males (n=382)Females (n=156)



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Stress and satisfaction

The career extracts its pound/kilos of flesh. There is very little positive feedback. There is hardly ever any opportunity to debrief. I wake in fright at some of the things I hear & see. Why do I do it? Because I know I make a difference in some small way. Because I believe I am privileged. The people in my court are not.



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Judicial Research Project Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant

(DP1096888), 2010-2013. Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant

(LP0669168), 2006-2009. Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant

(DP0665198), 2006-2008. Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant

(LP210306), 2002-2005 with the Association of Australian Magistrates (AAM) and all Chief Magistrates and their courts as industry partners with support from Flinders University as the host institution.


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Judicial Research Project

We are grateful to Russell Brewer, Carolyn Corkindale, Elizabeth Edwards, Ruth Harris, Julie Henderson, John Horrocks, Lilian Jacobs, Leigh Kennedy, Lisa Kennedy, Mary McKenna, Rose Polkinghorne, Wendy Reimens, Mavis Sansom, Chia-Lung Tai, Carla Welsh, Rae Wood, and David Wootton for research and administrative assistance.


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Selected publications Roach Anleu, Sharyn & Kathy Mack (2010) 'The Work of the Australian Judiciary:

Public and Judicial Attitudes' Journal of Judicial Administration 3-17. Roach Anleu, Sharyn & Kathy Mack (2010) 'Trial Courts and Adjudication' in Cane

and Kritzer (eds) Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research, OUP 546-66. Mack, Kathy & Sharyn Roach Anleu (2010) 'Performing Neutrality: Judicial

Demeanor and Legitimacy' 35(1) Law & Social Inquiry 137-73. Mack, Kathy & Sharyn Roach Anleu (2010) 'Women in the Australian Judiciary' in

Patricia Easteal (ed), Women and the Law in Australia LexisNexis. Roach Anleu, Sharyn & Kathy Mack (2009) 'Intersections Between In-Court

Procedures and the Production of Guilty Pleas' 42(1) Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 1-23.

Roach Anleu, Sharyn & Kathy Mack (2009) 'Gender, Judging and Job Satisfaction' 17(1) Feminist Legal Studies 79-99.

Judges and Judging:Public Confidence and the

Legitimacy of Law

Sharyn Roach Anleu Kathy Mack School of Social & Policy Studies Law School

Flinders UniversityGPO Box 2100, Adelaide, Australia

[email protected]

Public Lecture Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Law School

Strathclyde University, Glasgow

7th April 2011

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Judges and Judging: Public Confidence and the Legitimacy of Law