Governor Romney, taking a rare and brief break from his presidential campaign, yesterday appointed four lawyers to the bench. All are women, which is fine. All are also current or former prosecutors. While a prosecutorial background doesn't necessarily say anything about their judicial inclinations, it does give one pause. Read the story here.
It isn't news that prosecutors and big-firm lawyers are the people who become judges, but today I wonder why so few criminal defense lawyers ascend to the bench. Thoughts?
UPDATE:
At least Massachusetts isn't alone. See this post about similar problems in Florida. I wasn't quite as explicit. . .
May 2, 2006 at 12:03 am
This phenomena is equally evident here in South Australia. In the early nineties, perhaps 1/3 magistrates were from private (=defence) background. The last six out of six are all former prosecutors. We have a law and order bigmouthing govenment making the appointments. I’m not sure if it is to provide career advancement options to those in prosecutor’s office or if it is because they expect them to provide harsher sentences in line with government rhetoric. At a higher level of court, judges in our district court at present seem to come from the independent bar.
January 10, 2007 at 9:34 pm
very nice blog!mary