Week 10 Opinion Piece on Judge Judy

Explanation: "Judge Judy" is a very popular American television show where actual litigants agree to go before a real judge to have her hear, and decide, their case on television and issue a binding ruling. Judge Judy Sheindlin is an actual judge who has some 30 years experience in the judicial system. Although the show is not exactly like a real courtroom, Judge Judy does run a "tight ship", and does not tolerate behavior that would not be tolerated in an actual courtroom. I've watched the show, and have often been surprised by the callous immoral and amoral attitudes of many of the litigants. Many of them appear to be people who NEED to have someone tell them what they did/are doing is wrong.


I disagree with Adam Cohen's opinion of Judge Judy and her television show. Mr. Cohen seems to feel that the show consists of a great deal of social bullying, and that it blurs the line between justice and social
bullying, and that that is not a good thing. First of all, one must ask, is what Judge Sheindlin doing "social bullying" ? I am not entirely sure what he means by the term, but in the normal definition of bullying I do not think so. Are the people who appear before her court embarassed or somewhat humiliated? Sometimes, certainly,but so what? Until fairly recently it was accepted that a degree of humilation for doing something wrong, either legally or morally wrong, was a good thing. It helped to make the "wrong doer" uncomfortable, and hopefully his discomfort would mean he would want to avoid falling into that situation again. Watching Judge Judy taking to task someone who has done "wrong" is an interesting excerise in observing a social phenomena, that phenomena being the reluctance of people in our society to take responsibility for having done something wrong. Many of the people she lectures not only do not want to take such responsibility, but do not even see that what they did was wrong! It appears that standing before Judge Judy may be the first time they have ever had to listen to someone tell them that they have done wrong. Perhaps for the good of our society we should have more judges willing to say that the person before them has done wrong, even if that means the litigants might be a little embarassed. For doing the things some of them have done that landed them in Judge Judy's court they SHOULD feel embarassed.