I hope my judgment will hurt

 

"I hope my judgment will hurt" A judge's confession

'While one family eats out, the other fires lightning bolts. Even within the same frame, there are 'faces' where they are blurred by out-of-focus. love is a close-up There is no love in the distance. There is only longing for the distant view. The sorrow of those who stood in the courtroom continued to rise, and I decided to write the sentence myself, not the verdict.' - From 'Faces of the Court' by Park Joo-young

I wish I had published a book about the judge's writing... As I read the book 'Faces of the Court' by Judge Park Joo-young, I thought. 'Faces of the Court', which came out second after 'Reason for Sentencing', is full of beautiful and tearful sentences. The person who should have been a writer became a judge and became a personal bridge between sinful and innocent humans.

From abused children to juvenile offenders, from mentally ill to death row inmates... The narrative of the court he drew is gruesome, but accurate and accurate, making it more vivid. His judgment is a concrete root of love that only those who have looked into it for a long time and cried a lot can draw. The judgment of the dead becomes an obituary, and the judgment of the living becomes a letter to our society.

'Faces of the Court' begins with a chapter titled 'People who talk to themselves'. The conversation between three young men who met to commit suicide together is shocking in a group chat room just before their suicide attempt.

'When I'm in a hurry, it's hard to get 3,000 won. I'm sad ㅠㅠ'

'Right. Haha I'm sorry I have to have some money.'

'I'll even sell my cell phone.'

After the judge sentences the young people who come to court for a failure to commit suicide together with probation and probation, he sits them in their seats and reads them, 'A request to the accused'.

'If the universe is a library, we are all one book, so a story that begins once must not end in vain... Now that we have started to hear your story, your story is not alone as long as there are listeners... Be kind to yourself and live cherishing yourself'.

The letter ended with the words "Live well, please." In the hands of the young man leaving the courtroom were a self-written letter of reflection, a petition from his family, a book given by the judge, and 200,000 won in money.

I interviewed Judge Park Joo-young. After working as a lawyer for 7 years, he became a judge with a career judge system. He did primarily criminal trials, and was also a juvenile trial and public affairs plan judge. He currently serves as a presiding judge in the Busan District Court. He said he hoped his judgment would hurt more than comfort members of society.

-I'm curious about the feeling of sending money out to the accused. You wrote in the book, 'Even if Young-bae and Chan-woo go out into the world and see something very ugly, I hope you will remember this moment.'

“(Smiling) I gave money for the first time in my life as a judge. During the juvenile trial, I bought the children books and food, but did not give them money. I wanted to give a message to society in my own way. I also read letters to the defendants, and had them read reflective statements and petitions themselves. In a way, it was a show.”

- A show?

"haha. Yes. I'm from Gyeongsang-do, so I don't really like events like this. But I wanted to do an event to save people.”

- It's a good show. The saying, 'Live by being kind to yourself' stuck in my mind. Isn't the most benevolent punishment for a suicide attempter who wants to harm and punish themselves?

“The weaker the person, the more self-deprecation. So he can't just leave the 'talker to himself'. The courts make judgments on the defendants, but when I come home, I am just a person. Around that time, watching her wife talking to herself, I reflected a lot. It's cruel to let someone talk to you in the air. That scene came to mind when I was writing the verdict.”

It was surprising to see the dignity of the judge and the role of husband being integrated without being separated. This is how life flows into the law and the law flows into life, reflecting and taking good care...

-You expressed the dead as a lost book and crying in the sentences of the weak. Does accepting one person as a book and a narrator help your job as a judge?

“It makes me want to finish the book without stopping. During trial, it is important to choose an appropriate sentence if you are found guilty. But I always run out of time. Because we are pressed for time, it is difficult to see one person diachronically during sentencing investigations. When I was young, I couldn't observe the entire environment, life history, etc., so I only saw the cross section of the time when the crime was committed like a CT or MRI.

It means looking at only 158 pages out of the whole page and making a judgment. It is important to make an effort to read consistently observed data, one person's previous page. It can reduce errors and misunderstandings. But time is not enough.”

In the battle between narrative and time, what is needed is not one individual's 'speed reading' and 'overwork', but more judges. The workload of a judge, who had to handle an average of 10 sentences a day and an average of one murder every day, was just as bad as it sounds. If you don't deal with it quickly, you won't be able to withstand the fuss and urging surrounding the detention.

When I heard the story of the late Judge Seung-yoon Lee, who was a mother of two, overworked, I thought that if we had to stop the system of replacing judges as soon as possible, our narrative in front of the verdict would also be protected.