Judicial integrity is important just like it is in any position of authority. Because judges are not immune to the political aspects of their environment they may on occasion make decisions that filter political and personal distortions onto their public stakeholders. We often find this type of extreme bias in third world nations where racial, religious, tribal, and clan affiliations warp the sense of justice and lowers trust. Its takes commitment to ensure integrity of systems and in turn support by the public and the next generation.
(Two arguments that I won't go into detail here that include the economic side and the social contract side that are violated through bias, corruption and the protection thereof. Economic Freedom and Economic Growth)
Now, I could go on and on about economics and full society engagement of people based on merit and not racial or religious bigotries. Its a human capital and engagement issue around shared goals arguments as codified in our social contracts (i.e. constitution and oaths as examples). The more people engage, the more society will grow. The more they develop, the more society will benefit from the fruits of their labor. You can sort of see the main point I'm trying to make here on judicial and court integrity.
The Hypothetical Example Used for Illustrative Purposes Only:
Local Muslim (can be any race or religion) family with darker skinned kids was subject to public mocking, harassment, targeting, rights violations, putting multiple kids at risk, using common bigot terms to describes Muslims, publicly blaming for things the family would have no association with, ostracization, false investigations, reputation ruining, etc. (The really bad stuff we don't want any system to do or any person in the system to suffer from. Clear signs of extremism and corruption that attempted to remove minorities and intimidate the concerned public into silence.)
This started when a group who had a financial incentive to harm the victims misused their social and professional networks to launch a hate narrative on the family. A mob of affiliated immature ethnocentric supports engaged in blind monkey para tactics. Their perception skewed by extreme bias and self perceptions of racial and religious superiorities.
The behaviors included coordination with some officials and hinted at prior use of similar tactic against others at different times and places in their history. They were coordinated and had experience in serious mistreatment of others.
Let us add to this hypothetical example. A few years later others came forward with similar complaints and signs of extremism and corruption perked into public conscious. A few complained of freedom of speech violations, corruption, and extremism. All of them were ignored and their complaints diminished so the public became increasingly upset.
Lack of Correction, Community Eats Cost:
While these behaviors were going on for years in full view of "inner clan members" no one raised a finger until the lid popped off the jar and made a mess that wasn't easy to explain. These problems were years in the making and while the blame falls squarely on those who engaged and promoted these behaviors it is the victims of such crimes, minorities, the community and others that must eat the cost.
In this example there are more then a dozen of acts of threatening behaviors that could have led to violence under the wrong circumstances. Others have complained of similar acts against them creating a type of history. They were not isolated incidents but potentially coordinated goal directed behaviors. Despite the severity of the behavior there was no reasonable attempt to adjust or correct to protect the public. Those who complained were further targeted (Free Speech). The corruption continues.....
(Keep in mind this is a hypothetical example and there were no cases. It is just a discussion for theory development on how to curb extremism and systemic corruption in the future. Our democracy thrives off treating everyone fairly and when these situations occur and they cannot be corrected it reflects negatively on civil and human rights that we as a nation support..).
The Long Term Dangers of Unchecked Corruption:
The dangers of such behaviors is apparent in terms of trust and societal development. I looked around for some strong U.S. examples but didn't find anything recent. I thought this one was pretty descent.
"Moreover, a judicial system which operates without regard to professional ethics standards is not be able to build and retain public trust in the fairness and objectivity of its decisions and outcomes. Such a system also remains vulnerable to undue influence from outside structures or individuals." (Judicial Integrity UN, para 3)
The community of victims have a few options.
1.) Report the behaviors to another agency with more oversite. For example, Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. They appear narrowly defined and this might be why its hard to remove poor acting judges and officials. That is a good place to consider reform to ensure the public and the Constitution are always protected from misuse.
2.) Class Action and Civil Rights Suits. One could do this but it often comes with a few strings. It is effective but that also relies on making examples more public. The good and bad all get trampled together. It is not a fine scalpel that works well in the grey areas. It is often the last resort when all other systems failed to do the right thing.
3. Report the crimes to different Federal and State agencies. This is not a bad idea. It creates a paper trail of crimes at different places and times. However, they have to be willing to act on it and if the bar is too high there may be no backstops to ongoing issues. Generally, this would be a primary place to go before option #2. We pay taxes to these institutions and their roles so let us maximize that first. (It makes sense to lower the temperature but not sweep the behaviors under the carpet. Its a logical first step.)
4. Investigate Case Outcomes: It is possible to look at all court cases, people involved, and the outcomes to see if there are clear statistically significant differences in court outcomes that may have a religious or racial bias. For example, were Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, Muslims, Mormans, Jews, Christians, etc. treated disparately and consistently over a a sustained period of time? (gross vs. repeated). This can be conducted by government or private agencies if the information is available (As far as I know, if you have access to the public information anyone can do this if they follow basic rules of logic and math.).
5. Vote Corrupted Officials Out. The next time you go to the polls to vote on officials with jaded behaviors, etc. remember all of the complaints and remember the victims and ask yourself, "What kind of justice system is most likely to protect and serve the public for the next generation?". Voting out is very different than raising the trust in the system which can only come from integrity within the system itself (solve the problems they created). Voting is our broad hindsight management tool but doesn't address the root of corruption itself. It just removes the problem from public position based on common descent.
(Interesting reading from less developed systems. A study on court signaling and trust. Some discussion on how trust is changing in courts in general. Over Half of Americans Disapprove of Supreme Court as Trust Plummets. Some mixed news Confidence in institutions.)
If you are asking me, I will give my opinion. Generally, the systems function in a broad sense but there are loop holes in that system. When third world clan, racial, and religious hate occurs there are few to no backstops and that is against our values as a people and a nation. Sometimes due to political and ideological reasons we have struggled to fix the system to improve its trust and effectiveness. We can improve upon what it does well and remove those who try violate our rights with immunity through peaceful and active listening dialogue. It is not hard to fix if people agree upon the central purpose of such institutions and why there should be protective checks and balances against misbehaviors. Generally, I avoid anything that leans segregationist in orientation or seeks to divide our society with different rules for different people. We do not need two different societies and the division of effort and purpose that poor behaviors create. Kindness, civility and togetherness. There are pathways to improvement if we reach together to the next rung of national development and all of its economic and social benefits-universal democracy. Six ways to Improve Declining Trust
