OPERATON GREYLORD
Operation Greylord is regarded as one of the FBI's most important corruption cases in the history of the bureau and still maintains its distinction as being the biggest corruption bust in the United States. Of the 92 people indited, 17 were judges, and 15 of the 17 were convicted of taking bribes to fix cases, including murder. The Cook County Circuit serves over 5.7 million people, with over 400 judges, it is one of the largest court systems in the world, and where for a price, your case could be "fixed". When you control the judiciary, you become untouchable, This is how the Mafia remained in power for so long. The trouble is a crooked judge, is a crooked judge, and they were not exclusive to the Mafia, they would take bribes from anyone. How different is the Judicial Council advising the Governor from the ward bosses telling Chicago Mayor Daley, who should be seated on the bench? It is still one man making this decision. This is the judicial system I grew up under, and it should concern all Idahoans, that the same elements enabling crooked Chicago judges also exists here in Idaho. Many of the reforms listed below will ensure that corruption will be minimized in our current court system.
JUDICIAL REFORM
NON-FOR PROFIT JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Have you ever been caught in a "speed trap", or other selective law enforcement action designed to extract money from you to feed the Government? Rather than either "right sizing government", or finding the funds from the consent of their citizens, governments will rely upon Policing to cover the gap. Why not take this incentive away through a judiciary operating strictly to cover just the basic costs. Basic transparency online can inform citizens the exact cost to operate the judicial system they are subject to as well as the revenue necessary to function. Any funds that are above and beyond the cost for basic operations will be rebated to the citizens via tax rebates. By further creating a "state wide" index, Idahoans can know where the local judges and courts rank to ask for better fiscal results.
RATING SYSTEMS FOR JUDGES
What does Uber, Lyft, Apple, Amazon, and countless other top tier consumer companies have in common to maintain the highest levels of customer service? Customer surveys for each interaction. Just imagine if the Judges on the bench were rated the same way a Lyft driver is? Each ride gets a survey, so to does your experience in court also gets a score. In order to remain working for these companies in a customer facing role, you must consistently score high. For ride-share companies, this typically is a "3" or higher on a 5 star rating system. If you are unable to make this rating, then after a warning and possible "last chance", you are terminated from you position. Why should judges not work under the same "customer experience standards", as millions of Americans do every day?
POLICE RESPONSE TIMES
When I lived in Santa Monica, the average response time by Police to a 911 call, was 2.5 minutes. At the same time in Los Angeles, the average response time was an hour and half, if ever. For individuals engaged in criminal acts, which location would you choose to commit crimes? The safest communities, have the fastest response times, and in order to ensure uniform basic policing, we need to also maintain uniform police response times. While not widely known, this number should be made available to citizens in policing districts. Without this most basic metric, how can you know how well your local law enforcement is performing?
Gun Crime
As a former resident of the Chicagoland metro area, with family still there, do you want to know the reality of what the "strictest gun laws" produce. Check out this website, with real time tracking statistics for gun crime in the City of Chicago: https://heyjackass.com This data is collected by acoustic sensors, placed throughout the city streets. Using acoustic sensors to determine number and location of bullets, is the same system used by the military for training troops, tanks, and helicopters. This means the people in the City of Chicago are living in a "war zone". Moreover, large portions of Chicago are, "gang controlled" territories. Do you think these street gangs are able to hold and control their "territory", by complying with existing gun laws? Did you know that the Sinaloa Cartel, ran their US drug distribution network out of Chicago? What kind of arms do the Mexican drug cartels have access to? The lesson from Chicago is that only law abiding citizens will comply with gun laws, while street thugs do not. There are no "common sense gun laws", when street gangs, affiliated to Mexican Drug cartels, control large portions of your city. Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and how is that working out for the average Mexican Citizen?
Psych Evaluation for Judges
There is a common complaint that the pay for judges is not great, the actual money is in private practice or at a large firm. If this is the case the motivation for someone being a judge needs extra scrutiny to avoid placing people with tenancy of control due to Psychopathy. While the rate for psychopathy in the general population is quite low, 1 out of every 22 people or 4.5% of the general population. The risk of a psychopath, ending up on the judicial bench is quite high because this is a profession people suffering from this mental illness seek out. Many large corporations perform full psychological evaluations before elevating someone to a higher level management position. These corporations, use the same court approved licensed Psychiatrists that determine if serial killers are competent to stand trial. Considering the potential for abuse from judges, who are actual psychopaths, should we not also perform the same psychological evaluation before they are seated on the bench? The great news is that the judicial system already has court approved doctors, who perform this task on a regular basis. If a judge can't pass the same test we expect a defendant to "stand trial", can we trust him to "judge" that same trial?
Undercover Judge
Did you see the recent article in the Idaho Statesman regarding how a sizable amount of Idaho county jails are failing to pass inspection? This sounds like a quality control problem, and a failure of management. Have you ever seen the reality television show, "Undercover Boss", where the CEO spends a day working at the entry level to audit the company. Why not do the same for our judicial system, by having our judges go undercover in a county/city jail? Once a year, a judge will be selected at random, and taken to another circuit, where they will go through the arrest, booking, and housing at a county/city jail. Experiencing a night in jail and the amenities, including meals will be a great way for judges to answer the question if this experience is befitting for a member of our community presumed to be innocent.
ELECTION OF JUDGES
When is the last time you actually had more than one name to vote for when electing a judge? For far too long our judges are "selected" not "elected". Why not have at minimum 2 names on a ballot, when a judgeship is up for election? Under our current system, if a judge, resigns before their term ends, they get to "pick", their replacement. Then when the term is up, the judge is listed on the ballot with the simple question to "retain" or "remove". Not very democratic is this process. In the advent that a judge leaves before "picking" their successor, the Governor of Idaho, has a special committee, which recommends replacement judges for him to appoint. Wait, I thought the Judiciary branch was separate from the Executive Branch of the Idaho State Government? This is not only a separations of powers issue, it creates a system of cronyism. Do you honestly think the Governor will appoint someone, truly independent from the Executive branch? Moreover, if judges had to actually "campaign", perhaps we would actually know something about the person running for the office.
JUDICIAL PAY
A former Idaho State Supreme Court judge, complained about the low pay for judges. My response is the same that has been said to millions of Americans competing in a global workspace, "This just sounds like a job Americans, just don't want to do." Did you know that the average district judge in India makes only $1,000 USD a month? For a going rate of $12K a year, we can replace existing judges with contractors from India. Moreover, thanks to Covid, a majority of court proceedings are done all on line, and can be done anywhere in the world. There are much cheaper places to hold court than downtown Boise. The cost savings for Idahoan taxpayers, will be huge. Because the judges will be hired as, "contractors", there will be no further costs for health insurance, pension, etc. Again, this is the model used by both HP and Micron, for their workforce, involved in some of the most technical work in the world. If Indian contractors are good enough for two of Idahos leading technology companies, why not for the court system too?
Red-light Cameras or Mimes
The City of Boise and the Adhd have both authorized the use of "red-light cameras" for traffic enforcement. Beyond the privacy issues and cost, there is a tremendous temptation to use this to extract wealth via excessive enforcement. In fact a company providing the cameras was busted for shorting the yellow light times to guarantee a ticket revenue target. Why not try something different? In 1995, the mayor of Bogota, Columbia, was facing traffic issues even worse than the City of Boise, rather than use red-light cameras, he took a different approach hiring mimes instead. The mimes, were deployed to different city streets to focus on issues of the neighborhood, using excessive praise to encourage good behavior and excessive ridicule to shame bad behavior. The program was so successful, traffic related deaths dropped by 50%. In fact, many neighboring nations in Central & South America have replicated the mime patrol strategy. Rather than spend a bunch of money on out of state and expensive cameras, why not hire local artists instead? Boise State University has a drama department, with many students needing gainful employment. Why not hire local and spend local instead?
Breathalyzer Tests for Judges
I know someone, who during their divorce case, the judge was drunk on the bench. It happened not just once, but lasted for the entire length of her case. Think of how long divorce cases last? Eventually the judge was caught and all the cases tried under this time had to receive judicial review and retrial. Most people, who show up at the workplace once intoxicated can be a termination event, the judge got off easy. How many of the judges in Idaho courtrooms are not really "sober" on the job? The easy fix is to install the same auto-lock breathalyzer devices, which people, with DUI's are required to install on their vehicles as condition to drive. Before starting judicial proceedings, the judge would blow into the auto-lock, and if they pass, can preside over court proceedings. This is the same system we use to insure that motorists on the road under DUI charges remain sober, why not for the people driving our judicial system too. I knew someone, who had one of these auto-lock devices installed and for the 6 months it was required, they were unable to get it to work. They had it calibrated, swapped out, etc. I ended up giving them rides because neither of us could get it to work. If the judges, mandating this device, had to also use it, then the issues would be come clear via real world experience. If judges had to leave work because of a false positive, then I think these problems would be fixed or the system would be disqualified from being mandated.
Security: Courtroom vs Classroom
The security at the Ada County Court house is impressive, multiple guards and a metal detector at the entrance, and an armed bailiff in each court room. While down the street most schools are left on their own. There is talk about arming the teachers, but why not distribute all this security to the schools and arm the judges instead? All the armed bailiffs, in each courtroom could become a school resource officer instead. If there is one place that has no shortage of police and sheriff deputies, it is the courthouse. If something went down, the response time would be way better that for the average Idahoan. Both the classroom and the courtroom are government controlled spaces, so why is there such a disparity in security? Should we not prioritize protecting our kids over adults? Expecting our teachers to be armed to deal with threats is no different than expecting a judge to, so why not apply the same standards?