Judging the judges

The number of complaints against judges is rising. A total of 1,571 complaints were made against judicial holders in the year up to end of March 2010, compared to 1,339 in the previous year, according to the Office for Judicial Complaints’ annual report.

Three out of five were about judicial decisions, one in four complained about behaviour or inappropriate comments, and one in twenty alleged discrimination. Of 28 judicial office holders removed from office (25 were magistrates), 12 had not fulfilled their judicial duties, five were involved in civil proceedings or had criminal convictions, three were accused of professional misconduct, one had a motoring offence and one had a conflict of interest.

There were 18 resignations during conduct investigations.