Dear Editor
Dear Editor Criminal Justice Richard H. Kuh's article, "The Politics of Criminal Justice" (NL, January 8), is a fine piece of prose, giving the reader no chance to misunderstand him. His charges...
...As he suggests, this cannot be achieved merely by more money and more personnel, even if Americans are tempted to believe in this kind of answer...
...few of us know how to write precise and explicit prose that captures reason and stabilizes the fugitive point...
...New York City John Mack Carter Return of the Chic I hope Ms...
...They were chiefly expected to arbitrate neighborhood disputes and conflicts, keep an eye on area landlords, and impose quick fines and instant punishment for petty offenses...
...The Constitution has been thrust into our humble sessions by mandate of the United States Supreme Court...
...In the old days, a party loyalist may have been put out to pasture by appointment as a magistrate, but today's bench is no longer a quiet and inactive period of paid retirement...
...major court decisions in this country (for example those on legislative apportionment and desegregation) often have profound political impact and call for the exercise of political judgment...
...Gambler, Ohio Harry M. Clor Department of Political Science, Kenyon College Although I was growing increasingly uneasy about the functioning of our judicial system, only within the last few months have I become aware of the truly outrageous conditions that obtain in the New York courts...
...Too few seem to suffer the pangs of cultural hunger, or possess a nagging mind, prodding them into wide-ranging inquiry, or readings in history, philosophy, art...
...Rather, he is seeking ways to bring the practice of our state and local courts closer to the theory embodied in the mystique...
...They come up out of the drain of a once-proud shower to glare their disdain for judicial hauteur and to defy all who dare trespass upon their territorial imperative...
...2) accumulations of cigarette butts, kicked beneath desks (even though I don't smoke and my associate, a victim of efficiency logistics, spends most of his time on the bench in the Bronx...
...Yet judicial positions in the United States have always been "political offices' in the broader sense of the term...
...hence, lift them above ordinary interests and plosions...
...There are no robing clerks (and none is needed), no bowing bailiffs, no coincidential attendants, no secretaries...
...In France and other countries one opts for a judicial career while still a student, and without regard to political fawning...
...That bench was often occupied by a faithful ward heeler, a party loyalist, who happened to be a lawyer...
...Consequently, they can be expected to fight for all the patronage opportunities that remain...
...Why not train our judges...
...I have only one comment...
...Appointment to the bench could then be from a pool of legal scholars graded by a board representing psychiatrists, rich and poor lay persons, practitioners of law, and professors...
...Their easement rights are left inviolate by any human invader...
...In the small towns of our beloved Republic treatment of the Law is totally different than in the big cities...
...I would like to comment directly, though, on his observations about the danger of indicting an innocent man...
...I do not think Kuh is calling for rejection of the '"veneer of dignity" with which American tradition endows the judiciary...
...One grimy assize followed another...
...Raynor's review, "Diane Arbus" Search for Reality," (NL, December 25) does not get lost amid the mindless applause of the other critics...
...Kuh's reference to the trappings of royalty may be true of the Supreme Court, but not even nobility can be claimed for dingy 100 Centre Street...
...While the old materials and judges may have been reshuffled and redeployed, there was no "reform," in the sense that abuses, defects and faults were eliminated...
...Even absent a jury, he must be an avid reader of the latest case, explore the annals for the apt precedent and construe statutes, all at the prodding of a new activist breed of Legal Aid lawyers and private counsel...
...He must be wary of instant determinations and, quite often, is obliged to reserve decision and retreat at day's end to a library to research the law and justify his conclusion, or risk appellate humiliationA risk one takes in any case...
...I think it has value...
...New York City Jack B. Weinstein District Judge With the clarity and incisiveness characteristic of his writings, Richard H. Kuh has identified a striking disparity between the "mystique" of our judiciary and the political reality...
...Above all, what we need in The New Leader and elsewhere are discussions dealing with the reluctance of newspapers, radio and television to report the constant improvement in other words, the great "good news"that is still prevalent in our judicial procedure...
...Elmer Abernathy...
...I wish that he would soon give us his observations on the effect of the communications industry on the legal process...
...Wright Criminal Court Judge Richard H. Kuh's conclusions are generally sound, although I believe he fails to emphasize sufficiently that there are many fine judges on the bench who are frustrated by the inefficiencies of the system...
...The question will always be, for those of us who are out, how to get New York Citx Bruce McM...
...But there is no better alternative...
...4) a wall clock advertising a false hour...
...And how can an elected judge wholly abstain from political activity...
...Thus, one whose ambitions embrace the bench is schooled in the wisdom and graces of that high calling...
...The state would have to define with some precision what kinds of "political activity" he could or could not engage in...
...Many of us lack both style and grace in expression...
...In our big population areas, on the other hand, antisocial behavior is held up to public esteem...
...If it exists at all, this sacred status is self-anointed...
...Looters and highjackers are often presented as heroes...
...6) cockroaches in the thousands, with a longevity to dismay an actuary and bankrupt an insurance company, surely the envy of mankind...
...nor were they encouraged to pursue some agonizing quest for a philosophy of justice...
...3. The political parties will strongly resist proposals that take politics out of the courts...
...The mystique of the judiciary seems to encourage respect for the law, and, as Justice Frankfurter has observed, the institution of the Supreme Court tends to mold men in its own image, often confounding the expectations of the politicians who appointed them...
...New York City Morris L. Ernst The general principles laid down in Richard H. Kuh's light-hearted essay apply only in part to the Criminal Court of the City of New York...
...Sadly, Kuh may be near the mark in describing as "mediocre" some of those who claim the title of judge...
...That tribunal succeeded the old Magistrate's Court in 1962, under a so-called Court Reform Act...
...Kuh might well apply his agile mind to such basic facts as the impact of a weekly village newspaper on crime...
...Consequently, they were never given secretaries, or a retinue of faithful attendants...
...How many newspapers or TV news shows ever report U.S...
...5) a toilet that, since 1970 at least, spouts like a miniature Old Faithful and floods the floor whenever its burden is discharged...
...Perhaps we will have to settle for a compromise moving in that direction...
...As John Stuart Mill argued in Representative Government, the character (intelligence and virtues) of office holders is more important than institutional arrangements...
...And it would be quite appropriate for a state to forbid its judges to engage in partisan activity...
...If our bright young law review scholars are not to be frightened away from judicial careers and mediocrity is to be avoided in the areas of aptitude and preparation, the training process seems to provide an answer...
...Judges who sit there are often moved about the city like judicial nomads, or perhaps like pawns in a losing match...
...In these circumstances, one wonders whether state and local judiciaries can achieve the degree of neutrality that has been attained by the Federal judiciary...
...Whatever improvements may be practicable, we are indebted to Richard Kuh for pointing the way...
...Personally, i prefer leaving the matter to the peers of the accused...
...Those having the highest all-around achievement rating would be chosen on that basis...
...7) large primitive and ferocious-looking water bugs that, by comparison, reduce the ordinary roach to a mere Lilliputian...
...Under today's setup this would probably require more judges, but it would be worth it...
...Appellate courts will have to have power to remove judges who do not perform their functions or who pad their payrolls for the sake of patronage...
...One solution to the judicial sloth Kuh attacks with such gusto would be a new method of preparing and selecting judges...
...He may no longer inveigh and decide on the basis of his hearsay knowledge of the community where he presides...
...He has also summarized his proposals for correction with eminent good sense...
...He is advanced through academic standing and breadth of learning...
...For instance, it might allow him to run for election in a dignified personal way, but not campaign on behalf of other candidates or any party...
...I would only add these considerations: 1. The proposed reforms would seem to favor an appointive over an elective system for choosing judges...
...It would, after all, be difficult for an appellate court to remove an elected judge for causes other than moral dereliction...
...mentioned...
...Our urban population in particular is unaware of the breadth and content of the Law, since the mass media limits itself to covering cases involving murder, mugging, other acts of violence, and occasionally a divorce...
...If judges continue to be chosen on the basis of loyalty 10 political chiefs, the other measures for institutional reform and legal sanctions would no doubt fail of their objectives...
...The purpose of this was twofold: (1) to promote "reverence for the law" and, hence, a disposition to obey it among a people who might not otherwise have that disposition: and (2) to impress upon the judges the awe-someness of their responsibility and...
...As a grand juror for 30-odd years, I know that justice is not always served by grand juries and that people are sometimes indicted who should not have been...
...In addition to his suggestions, I would recommend: (1) a strong administration of the courts under the direction of the Chief Judge, and (2) an effective method of disciplining judges, such as that of California...
...He now instructs and charges juries, and has to be guarded and circumspect in what he says during a trial...
...Otherwise, minority representation, that sine qua non of the melting pot myth, would suffer, justifying the fears that for blacks and Puerto Ricans, at least, flow from the appointive system...
...I agree that the veneer of dignity does not by itself produce justice (though, for reasons suggested above...
...psychology, and biography...
...Thus many of our eminent Supreme Court Justices have been "political" men influenced by particular viewpoints (one thinks of Justices John Marshall, Taney, Hughes, Taft, Jackson and, in a sense, even Brandeis and Frankfurter...
...At the state and local level the system does not function so well, and the gap between theory and practice is wider...
...Determining what is or is not constitutional was never simply a legal enterprise...
...Screaming, yelling, inconsiderate and berating judges do, of course, diminish the dignity and respect our legal system should honor, as does tardiness in opening court, not to mention interruptions of trials...
...Perhaps there is no viable one since, any way you look at it, there will be an in-elite to run the system...
...The Founding Fathers intended that the courts have an aura of dignity, even majesty...
...Kuh refers to Ihe "front page spreads of sensational murder cases...
...3) a wastepaper basket that brims for days and nights with its reeking load before being emptied by the night porter...
...It is not easy to expand on the writings of our erudite and literary barrister, Richard H. Kuh...
...Therefore, it would be a striking incongruity for a Criminal Court judge to assume an aloof, socially distant, lordly, and Godhead attitude...
...Therefore I read Richard Kuh's article with great interest, and I hope you can be encouraged to give it the greatest possible exposure...
...Now that Leonard Bernstein no longer gives house parties, MOM A is New York's center for radical chic...
...Would it be fairer to have an assistant district attorney, instead of 16-23 citizens, make this decision...
...Although the political intimacy that leads to appointment to the bench continues to wage its influence (so we are told by the gossips), the duties of this inferior court judge have changed in many ways...
...They need patronage in order to function, and their capacity to reward the faithful has been progressively diminished in recent decades by civil service reform and other "good government" movements...
...2. Almost everything depends on the last suggestion on Kuh's list separating the selection process from politics...
...To some extent, this problem is inherent in the American political and legal system...
...The single fault I find with Kuh's blunt opinions is that he has offered no alternative...
...Bayonne, N.J...
...In those carefree times, the step from high school to law school, or perhaps simply to just reading the law in an office, was not unusual...
...This allows for instruction in the law, balanced by psychiatry, patience, the humanities, historical perspective, and all of the other qualities ideally looked for in a judge...
...To be fair, such a plan would have to provide scholarship aid to bright but impecunious students...
...For my part, I am convinced that we can do little to improve the judicial system, especially in the criminal field, as long as television, radio and most of our remaining daily newspapers distort its basic concepts...
...The mystique (judges in august robes, surrounded by symbolic indicators of dignity and deference) is designed to portray the judiciary as the dispensers of impartial justice, above any partisanship, favoritism or prejudice...
...I also agree substantially with Kuh's five proposals for improving our court system...
...The main pleasure of that exhibit was not seeing the photographs but the visitors, and overhearing East Side matrons tell each other how "real" Arbus' freak show was...
...However, I think Kuh is right in suggesting that one judge handle a case after indictment throughout the legal process...
...Supreme Court decisions except on murder cases...
...Speaking of the chambers I share with a beloved colleague and rare humanist, I cite the following regal stigmata of ease and extravagance: (1) ;i filthy floor of drab tile, energetically waxed once a year and never swept or cleaned...
...On the Federal level we have managed to join these two aspects of the judicial process rather successfully, even though a disparity between them remains...
...Stepchildren of the judicial system, Criminal Court judges suffer from the image of their predecessors who were magistrates...
...His point about the length of time a person usually has to work, in minor clubhouse activities before being considered "politically acceptable" merely increases our uncertainty about the system of selecting judges...
...These journals are true deterrents because nobody wants to have it known in the community that he or she was arrested for drunken driving...
...His charges particularly with regard to the violation of the Canons of Judicial Ethics explain much that worries New York citizens about their courts...
...Yet except in isolated dramatic instances, the sentences imposed for muggings and the like are seldom The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...The reality is that many of our state and metropolitan judges owe their appointments to political influence, and their behavior on the bench continues to reflect that fact in the various ways Kuh indicates...
...Only the name was changed And not to protect the innocent...
...Years ago, legend has it, the Magistrates Courts held sway in various city neighborhoods...
...New York City Carl M. Loeb Jr...
...Legal scholars seldom have time for clubhouse politics and a proposal of this sort would, naturally, remove judicial selection from purely political consideration...
...Magistrates were not supposed to be learned in judicial reasoning, research or writing...
...Working from extensive personal experience and training, Kuh has documented the appalling political base of our judiciary, proving that the facts are worse than our worst fears...
Vol. 56 • February 1973 • No. 3
