Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 05:36 pm Post subject: "Wave of threats" target ALJs
It's insanity to threaten a judge under any circumstances, ever, in any way. Yet, such treats sadly are on the rise.
Quote:
Government Executive reports on a recent event at the National Press Club featuring Judge Randall Frye from the Social Security Administration and president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and Judge Dana Leigh Marks, an immigration judge in San Francisco and president of the National Association of Immigration Judges. The pair described threats to judges involving guns, baseball bats, cut brake lines, and broken legs.
Being an administrative law judge can be nerve-racking.
According to information released Monday by the Association of Administrative Law Judges and the National Association of Immigration Judges, federal employees who handle Social Security disability claims and immigration hearings have been the target of a "wave of threats."
Citing data collected by the Social Security Administration's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, "between March and August of last year, 28 violent threats were reported on Social Security offices that handle disability hearings and in the same period nine individual judges who hear disability claims were threatened," the judges' organizations reported.
"From September of last year through February 2010, 21 threats were recorded against SSA hearing offices and 11 threats were directed at judges. Threats to the wives and children of judges also have been reported."
During a National Press Club briefing, Randall Frye, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, and Dana Leigh Marks, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, also released a set of recommendations to improve security.
I certainly do not condone any threatening or inappropriate behavior. However, rather than just condemn it, its better to try to understand it. People will accept a reasonable explanation but the fact of the matter is many people are ignored, treated poorly, talked down to, called liars, belittled and treated with distain. (And I'm just talking about the lawyers! ). Seriously though, some judges should not be judges. They take on this mantel of invinceability because they know they have the entire power of the government behind them. They love teleconferences because they don't have to be in the same room as the claimants. That should tell you something. I can understand their anger because the claimants are ill-equiped to defend themselves from what they consider poor treatment and there is no accountability. There's been an exponential increase in meanness and the ones on the edge can't handle it.
I certainly do not condone any threatening or inappropriate behavior. However, rather than just condemn it, its better to try to understand it. People will accept a reasonable explanation but the fact of the matter is many people are ignored, treated poorly, talked down to, called liars, belittled and treated with distain. (And I'm just talking about the lawyers! ). Seriously though, some judges should not be judges. They take on this mantel of invinceability because they know they have the entire power of the government behind them. They love teleconferences because they don't have to be in the same room as the claimants. That should tell you something. I can understand their anger because the claimants are ill-equiped to defend themselves from what they consider poor treatment and there is no accountability. There's been an exponential increase in meanness and the ones on the edge can't handle it.
I could not disagree more with the old "bitch had it coming" augment. No matter how lazy, stupid, rude or just plain crazy a judge is, there is never any excuse whatsoever to threaten a judge. None. That applies no matter what the judge says, does, or fails to do.
A great deal of this increased danger to our judges is a direct result of the onslaught of daily doses of talk radio and similar anti-government nonsense. I heard a report of one well-known political candidate blathering in public about "a second amendment" solution to the federal government. As long a such anti-government nonsense is foisted on the public by such irresponsible goons and not instantly and universally condemned, the consequences of the rhetoric will spin out of control, and somebody will get killed.
Attorneys and representatives should, IMHO, take the time with all clients to explain to them that such behavior towards judges (and anybody else) is not permitted, and it is a serious crime. _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
P.O. Box 459
Eagle, WI 53119
262-594-2096 (work)
david[at]traverlaw.com
Talk radio seems to be getting a fair amount of blame. I have a friend that blames almost every instance of violence on right wing rhetoric. I tend to be more cautious, since most instances of blaming (whether it be video games, medications, radio, heavy metal music, etc.) are followed by calls for the government to "do something". Unfortunately, much of what was thought of being a causal factor is disproven or debunked. Don't get me wrong, I hate talk radio. I can't tolerate any of those people for more than a few minutes. I am just not sure if I am willing to say it is making people more violent.
I would like to know if these threats are on the rise. I don't mean to discount them, but the number seems pretty low, considering the number of ALJ's and the number of hearings that are held every year. They are also deling with a fair number of people that are unbalanced or have some kind of impulse control problems.
I didn't say the people who threaten judges are justified. I simply gave a reason why I think people threaten judges. Who said anything about judges having it coming to them? OK, so no matter how bad a person is treated does not justify threateining a judge. I agree with that. But if you think that doesn't have something to do with it, you are mistaken.
I am not trying to excuse the behavior, but it does offer a view into why it happens. I don't know what kind of impact talk radio or loudmouths like Beck, Hannity and Olbermann have on the population. I don't know if they are causing violence, but they certainly don't contribute to reasoned discussion.
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