Get Acquainted With Your Judges

They don’t wear wigs or partake in the courtroom theatrics of their English counterparts, but American judges are still a mystery to the general public.

Draped in formal black robes, prevented by their own code of ethics from commenting publicly on pending cases and sitting atop a highly technical and confusing process, judges are often maligned and misunderstood. They are blamed for unpopular verdicts in particular cases or seeming defects in the judicial system.

Public perceptions of the judiciary are based on television shows such as “L.A. Law” and high-profile cases covered by the press, but little else. Judges often don’t have a chance to mingle with the public and to educate and explain the judicial process and their role in it.

That will change a bit next week during what Gov. George Deukmejian has designated “Meet Your Judges Week.” About 60 public forums will be held across the state, including more than 10 in Los Angeles County, all sponsored by the California Judges Assn., the State Bar of California and other institutions.

On the Westside, for example, 30 judges are expected to attend a public forum Tuesday (7 to 9 p.m., Wadsworth Theatre, Veterans Administration), according to Superior Court Judge David Perez, one of the organizers. Retired Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner, of “People’s Court” fame, will moderate the session.

Two other judges will give short speeches about the “Role of Judges” and “Crisis in the Courts,” followed by a general question-and-answer program. The other forums will follow similar formats.

“The purpose is to allow citizens to have access to the judges and to meet them on a face-to-face level, rather than having them be ominous figures in black robes,” explained a spokeswoman.

“People tend not to understand the role of the judge as an impartial decision-maker,” said Judge David Rothman, one of the scheduled speakers. “We are not prosecutors or public defenders or people who have a stake in any particular case.”

“We don’t take sides,” he added.

The complexities of legal decision-making are often misunderstood. For example, in a jury trial, judges rule on questions of law, while juries determine questions of fact, Perez explained. The facts--what happened--are presented by the witnesses and weighed by the jury, while questions of law involve such issues as whether a certain piece of evidence is admissible.

“In the courtroom, it is impossible for judges to . . . discuss generally how the system of justice works,” Rothman said. “That’s not the place for that to happen. Unless we do something like this, it will perhaps never happen.”

The forums are based on a pilot project first tried in Sacramento and later tested in San Francisco and Long Beach. Up to that time, the California Judges Assn. had focused its public information and education efforts on explaining the judicial system through the media, said Sacramento Municipal Judge Barry Loncke, who designed the first forum. “But the press was interested in news, not in educating,” he said.

He expected less than 100 people to attend the first forum in 1988. But more than 500 filled the hall. And all those who didn’t have their questions answered during the forum were later given a written response prepared by one of the judges who attended.

The questions ranged from the philosophical to the practical, from the death penalty to how a judge feels when a jury reaches a decision the judge disagrees with. When it was over, “judges felt they had contributed to an understanding of the courts, and the people who attended seemed to enjoy exposure to judges as human beings, as something other than a headline,” Loncke said.

“Demystification of the courts is very important,” Loncke said. “There are those who feel we should keep the mysterious part of the system to maintain respect. I don’t think respect is diminished by understanding the process and understanding the human beings that are part of the process.”

To find out the date, time and location of the “Meet Your Judges” forum in your area, contact Marian Molloy at the Presiding Judges Assn., (213) 419-5665.