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There's an asymmetry to the process of how judges allow evidence. If one judge somewhere allows a prosecutor to present junk science as evidence, that becomes

There's an asymmetry to the process of how judges allow evidence. If one judge somewhere allows a prosecutor to present junk science as evidence, that becomes precedent that other prosecutors can point to in order to convince other judges to allow it, too. Once precedent is established, it takes the decision of a higher court to stop use of that junk science. It takes time for cases to work their way up.

Mirioron 7y ago
At what point are judges liable here? They play a vital role in our society yet a lot of what they do seems to be based on precedent established on a whim.
- SllX 7y ago
  Under the Appeals process. If you mean criminally liable though, we don’t hold them liable for the same reasons we don’t hold lawyers criminally liable for defending a convicted criminal. At the end of every human process, you need someone somewhere to exercise some human judgement and be able to rely on it. Humans are not infallible though, and neither is anything else we create whether it’s court systems or computer systems. This is one of the reason’s why we have trials by Jury in cases where life, limb and liberty are at stake. It is one thing to convince one person, the judge presiding over the case to pass judgement one way or another, but a whole other thing to convince several of your peers of equal social standing to pass judgement. It’s still not perfect, but nothing ever will be.
  - Mirioron 7y ago
    Do judges lose their jobs after successful appeals? I'm sure it has happened, but this seems like an incredibly rare event. Yet lawyers who do their jobs poorly (even ones defending criminals) can get fired from being a lawyer and have consequences on their ability to practice law. For most jobs, if you do it poorly enough then there can be severe consequences that follow. Yet here there are matters of life and death at play and nobody seems to have any responsibility in their screw up. Even police officers are held accountable when great harm comes to the innocent due to what they did.
    - SllX 7y ago
      Federally, Article III judges can be impeached and removed by Congress. Administrative and Military (Article II) judges can be fired outright or demoted. State-level, depends on the State, but in California we have something called retention elections, which rarely result in a change in office, but changes in office have come about after particularly unpopular rulings. An appeal doesn’t directly lead to jobs loss, but it doesn’t look good on your record when your judgements are regularly overturned, particularly if you aspire to a better position. Keeping your job isn’t always the only, or most important incentive if you have any kind of ambition or want to leave any kind of lasting legacy.

Mirioron 7y ago

At what point are judges liable here? They play a vital role in our society yet a lot of what they do seems to be based on precedent established on a whim.

SllX 7y ago
Under the Appeals process. If you mean criminally liable though, we don’t hold them liable for the same reasons we don’t hold lawyers criminally liable for defending a convicted criminal. At the end of every human process, you need someone somewhere to exercise some human judgement and be able to rely on it. Humans are not infallible though, and neither is anything else we create whether it’s court systems or computer systems. This is one of the reason’s why we have trials by Jury in cases where life, limb and liberty are at stake. It is one thing to convince one person, the judge presiding over the case to pass judgement one way or another, but a whole other thing to convince several of your peers of equal social standing to pass judgement. It’s still not perfect, but nothing ever will be.
- Mirioron 7y ago
  Do judges lose their jobs after successful appeals? I'm sure it has happened, but this seems like an incredibly rare event. Yet lawyers who do their jobs poorly (even ones defending criminals) can get fired from being a lawyer and have consequences on their ability to practice law. For most jobs, if you do it poorly enough then there can be severe consequences that follow. Yet here there are matters of life and death at play and nobody seems to have any responsibility in their screw up. Even police officers are held accountable when great harm comes to the innocent due to what they did.
  - SllX 7y ago
    Federally, Article III judges can be impeached and removed by Congress. Administrative and Military (Article II) judges can be fired outright or demoted. State-level, depends on the State, but in California we have something called retention elections, which rarely result in a change in office, but changes in office have come about after particularly unpopular rulings. An appeal doesn’t directly lead to jobs loss, but it doesn’t look good on your record when your judgements are regularly overturned, particularly if you aspire to a better position. Keeping your job isn’t always the only, or most important incentive if you have any kind of ambition or want to leave any kind of lasting legacy.