Office for Judicial Complaints releases its annual report
Judicial misdemeanors last year included a tribunal member who posted work-related comments on social media, a district judge who took too long to hand down a judgment, and a tribunal judge who allowed inappropriate questioning during an immigration appeal.
One recorder practised as a barrister without a practising certificate, while a bench chair sent an offensive email to another magistrate, and a senior immigration judge failed to inform the judicial authorities that his premises were investigated by the police for misuse by others for unlawful activities. The most serious was a non-legal member of an employment tribunal removed after being sentenced to six months for perjury. The most senior was Lord Justice Thorpe’s reprimand for his driving ban in January 2012.
Overall, complaints against court and tribunal judges surged by one third in the last year to more than 2,000, the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) annual report has shown. However, nearly half of these related to judicial decision or case management and therefore could not be considered under the regulations.
One tribunal judge, two tribunal members and 17 magistrates had to be removed from office. The reasons ranged from not fulfilling their judicial duties (nine removals), inappropriate behavior or comments (seven removals), civil proceedings or criminal convictions (three removals), and misuse of judicial status (one removal).
The OJC reprimanded 19 judicial office holders and gave a further 16 formal advice or warnings. Nine judicial office holders received informal guidance and 16 resigned during the course of disciplinary proceedings.
In the previous year, 29 judicial office holders were removed from office.
Judy Anckorn, head of the OJC, said: “Despite the increase in the number of complaints received, only 55 cases required a disciplinary sanction, a very small proportion of the total complaints received.”
A new complaints handling process will be created, subject to Parliamentary approval, by the introduction of the Judicial Discipline (Prescribed Procedures) Regulations 2013. The OJC will become the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).
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