by RICH CASSIDY on March 2, 2015

Regular readers of this blog know that I am interested in the feedback loop between popular culture and the law. Recently, I watched “The Judge,” a Robert Duvall and Robert Downey, Jr. film. And as I did, I wondered about the impact of the film on the public’s view of lawyers and judges.

The film is a story of conflict between father and son and between the law and the Judge. The basic plot is this: The Judge is terminally ill. He does not want anyone to know. His memory is suffering, and in the aftermath of his wife’s death and funeral, he is charged with a fatal hit and run. He doesn’t recall the event, but it turns out that the victim is a man the judge once leniently sentenced for domestic abuse. After release, the abuser had murdered his domestic partner. The accusation is that the Judge subsequently took the law into his own hands and intentionally killed the abuser. One of his sons — the black sheep of the family, but a highly successful big city trial lawyer — defends him.

Early in the film, the Judge awakens from a nightmare. Is he afraid of the trial? His death? We don’t know. It’s a matter of interpretation, and each of us can decide on our own what we think it means.

But the Judge tells us that he is proud of those he has sentenced who have then found their way to a new and better life. Is the Judge’s psyche working through the decisions he has made in 42 years on the bench that have deeply influenced many human lives? After all, no one could make all those decisions correctly.

Later, at trial, the son examines his father. His memory failing, the Judge admits that he may have killed the abuser. Asked why he previously gave the abuser a lenient sentence, the Judge responds to his son’s question:

I looked at him and saw you. I saw my middle son. My little boy. I wanted someone to help him. Like I would help my little boy, if someone had lost his way. I wanted to put my arms around him. I looked at him and saw you.

Is the movie unrealistic? Even wildly unrealistic? Sure, but fiction offers the opportunity to juxtapose incredible combinations of facts to show real conflicts in highly dramatic relief.

So in an overly dramatic way, does the movie reflect the reality of the burden judges carry? I think it does. What kind of human can do the job of sentencing? It is only for those with mental callouses thick enough simply not to care? Can a judge be aware and compassionate and do the job?

We do justice this way because we don’t have a better way. We don’t have infinitely wise beings to make such decisions. We only have some among ourselves who are willing to try to wrestle with these burdens, and who are chosen to do it. Some do it better than others. None will be perfect.

The good ones will struggle with themselves in the process, but find a way to handle it. The poor ones see nothing to struggle over.

Perhaps some members of the public will understand this a little better if they watch “The Judge.”

Rich

Tagged as: Crime and Punishment, Criminal Law, Judges, justice, Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, The Burden of Judging, The Judge

- See more at: https://onlawyering.com/2015/02/the-judge-robert-duval-and-robert-downey-jr-and-the-burden-of-judging/#sthash.467L82cf.dpuf