Nearing Final Judgment, Kaye Calls Pay a Crime; Highlights Key Achievements

In what may be her final appeal on the subject, outgoing New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye Nov. 12 decried a decade-long pay freeze for judges while also unveiling a new "green" initiative in the courts and detailing the progress in jury reform.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SHE COULD USE A UNION: Unlike the court officers she's standing with after delivering a farewell address at New York University, Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye does not have a union to bargain for raises for the state's judges, leaving them enduring a 10-year pay freeze she calls 'heartbreaking.'

Judge Kaye, the first woman to head the judiciary, will be forced from office at the end of the year because she has reached the maximum age of 70. Aside from no longer being Chief Judge, she will also relinquish her role as "chief plaintiff" in a lawsuit for higher pay for judges, "the other role that saddens and sickens me."

'Frustrating and Demoralizing'

"It is heartbreaking, frustrating and demoralizing beyond description that our judiciary — alone among judges throughout the nation, alone among New York State's roughly 200,000 full-time employees — should have had its compensation frozen for more than a decade, despite our persistent efforts with three consecutive Governors and legislators who have acknowledged that the judges should have the increases they seek," she said. Attempts to make judicial pay more competitive — including raises of more than $30,000 for Supreme Court Justices, who for the past decade have been stuck at $136,700 — have been thwarted by state legislators' determination to couple such increases with hikes in their own salaries. Ms. Kaye is a party in one of two lawsuits seeking a raise.

Judge Kaye spoke for more than an hour, offering her insight into the progress of her tenure and making suggestions for the court system's direction after her retirement. "As I have contemplated this day, my final state of the judiciary, the words 'swan song' inevitably drift to mind — not at all in a morbid sense, but simply as a significant closing chapter," she told the crowd gathered at the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University.

One of her focuses through a 15-year tenure as Chief Judge, the longest in state history, has been jury reform. Ms. Kaye has sought to bring new operational, administrative and legislative initiatives to a system she called an "albatross." Judge Kaye said a key change was the elimination of many statutory exemptions from jury duty, such as those for doctors and lawyers. "Thankfully today, even acknowledging the great advances in root canal surgery, I think most New Yorkers would prefer a jury summons," she said.

Eased Sequestering Rules

Since 2003, a group of 50 judges has worked on a Jury Trial Project to implement 21st Century practices like allowing jurors to take notes and submit written questions about evidence during the trial. In 2001, New York State eliminated the practice of requiring that deliberating juries in criminal cases be sequestered. "This was one of the many outdated practices that have been eliminated — to the great satisfaction both of jurors and members of the bar whose skepticism turned to acceptance, even appreciation, once the practice ended," Judge Kaye said.

The Internet has also brought reform in the last decade as New Yorkers are now allowed to complete juror qualification questionnaires on-line. "While I would like to end on this high note, I do not have that luxury, for the task of jury reform will never be complete," she said. "New technology, for example, challenges us in so many new ways — from assuring juror privacy and the security of trial proceedings, to adjusting to how people learn today."

Judge Kaye, who in her first State of the Judiciary speech in 2004 talked about "paperless courts," used her final speech as a sounding board to launch a new green initiative in New York courts, which receive four million new case filings a year — all on paper. "Just think of the cost: each sheet of paper must be manufactured, bought and sold, shipped, printed, duplicated, served on opposing parties, filed with the court, stored and then retrieved as needed-with considerable expense of energy, effort and money at each step," she said, adding that it also contributes to the rising cost of the legal system.

Her initiative will look at environmental impact of paper dockets, procedure, operations and travel for court appearances. She called for the expansion of electronic filing and video conferences and for establishing a statewide Web site for collecting credit card payment of court fines and fees.

Expanded Community Courts

The success of community courts, which she called "problem-solving justice" will be one thing the Chief Judge will pass on to her successor. An experiment in midtown Manhattan has spawned eight in the state and some as far away as South Africa.

Judge Kaye also boasted of the success of the drug courts, which provide counseling and treatment service to users as alternatives to incarceration and have seen 18,500 graduates since they opened in 1995. She said the program had reduced recidivism by 29 percent in the first three years after individual drug users took part. "Research further shows that benefits include savings to the state in tens of millions of dollars in incarceration costs — not an insignificant consideration today — in reuniting families, and in avoiding court resources to re-try the same people over and over again," the Chief Judge said.

In conclusion she stated, "As I prepare for my next title as New York's first woman former Chief Judge, it seems to me that the judiciary I leave behind, while in one key regard deeply pained personally and individually, has heroically risen to its obligation to serve the public wisely and diligently, soundly and innovatively, preserving and carrying forward the best of the past to meet the demands of a rapidly changing society. And every day the news reminds us that — as dockets rise and pressures intensify — the courts must continue to be good, responsible citizens, attentive always to budgeting leanly and transparently, and making careful use of our resources in every aspect of our operations."