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In a courthouse in Fulton County, Georgia, a criminal defendant used a
deputy sheriff 's firearm to shoot and kill a judge, another deputy sheriff and
a court reporter.
A convicted counterfeiter threatened to bomb a Chicago courthouse in
retaliation for his conviction.
A Jacksonville, Florida litigant begrudged by a court ruling took hostages and
threatened to kill them unless the presiding judge resigned, prompting the
judge to stage her resignation on live television to save the hostages' lives.
Relatives of a federal judge in Illinois were murdered in the judge's home in
apparent retaliation for a ruling in a criminal case.
A Seattle, Washington man upset about child support rulings brought a hand
grenade into a federal courthouse, leading to mass evacuations and a standoff
that led to the man's death.
Around the nation, there have been increasing breaches of courthouse security.
Saying that there is perhaps no more vital or complex challenge for a free society than assuring that it courts are always open, accessible and safe, the NYS Office of Court Administration has released a comprehensive set of 47 proposals to insure security in courtrooms across New York State.
A 10-member task force headed by Lawrence Marks, OCA's administrative director, and Ronald Younkins, chief of operations, issued its 51-page report on order of Chief Administrative Jonathan Lippman who said that the court system has handled 1,300 threats to judges in the last decade without any serious incidents.
"As if the September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center's Court of Claims facility and the devastation of the Louisiana and Mississippi court systems in the wake of Hurricane Katrina1 were not reminder enough of the importance and difficulty of protecting the infrastructure of our justice system, recent events in courthouses across the nation underscore the exigency of securing the courts, and the judges and non-judicial court employees on whom the public relies to meet their justice needs. The last year alone witnessed numerous high-profile crimes and other threats against courts and judiciary personnel nationwide", the report opens.
"Because the New York State Judiciary operates one of the nation's busiest court
systems - New York's caseload now exceeds four million new filings a year - and given the emerging nationwide trend of threats against courts, judges and non-judicial court employees, there is no reason to expect a diminution of such events in New York State. Courts will forever face threats to public safety precisely because the Third Branch's primary function is to mediate complex and often highly emotional disputes. Courts are busy places where violent felons face justice, victims confront attackers, parents dispute child custody and support obligations, and myriad other life-altering circumstances are debated, decided and appealed - all in high-traffic, high-pressure and high-stakes environments. Especially in the criminal courts, conflict and the threat of violence will forever form the backdrop against which courts and judges fulfill their justice missions.
Layer atop these realities the modern specter of terrorism, and the careful
implementation and constant refinement of public safety measures become absolute
necessities and inescapable facts of life for New York's courts. And the massive disruption of the Mississippi and Louisiana court systems in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is a brutal reminder of dangers and threats of other types to which courts are vulnerable and must be prepared to face".
The New York State Unified Court System includes 1,200 State paid judges presiding in nine separate trial courts and several appellate tribunals, over 15,000 non-judicial employees and 2,300 locally-paid town and village judges, and facilities ranging in size from one-room rural courthouses to the recently opened 84-courtroom courthouse in Brooklyn. That New York's courts vary widely in size and
caseload, physical design and threat profile resists one-size-fits-all categorization but yet requires at least some standard protocols and coordination among uniformed and civilian officials responsible for court security.
The recommendations include:
Expand statewide statutory authorization in 23 counties for defendants to make routine court appearance via video teleconferencing and eliminate a requirement that the defendant consent to the video appearance.
Make crimes against judges and court personnel designed to impede the judicial process aggravated offenses similar to the higher designation given to crimes committed against witnesses, jurors and crime victims.
Establish SWAT-like teams of specially trained court officers to respond to emergencies and serious judicial threats.
Clarify guidelines on the handcuffing of prisoners to require that they be rear-handcuffed at all times except when appearing before a jury or at an extended hearing.
Establish a dormitory facility for the training of court officers upstate.
Issue bullet-resistant vests to all state-paid court officers and develop a way to pay for them.
Develop a "smart" identification card for court employees and attorneys who use photo ID cards to bypass security searches upon entering courthouses. The new cards would use computer technology to identify the card holder and could be canceled electronically once the card holder is no longer entitled to enter a courthouse without being searched.
The complete report can be viewed here:
http://www.nycourts.gov/reports/security/SecurityTaskForce_Report.pdf
10-22-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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