| This dissertation is about after-hours judging, and examines the judicial decision-making practices of Massachusetts Trial Judges that serve on the emergency Judicial Response System. The Judicial Response System is a unique program that provides 24-hour judicial intervention when the courts are closed. During their after-hours duty, judges still perform their daytime duties on the bench.; A national survey of after-hours judicial systems was conducted for this study. Thirty-five models were reviewed and ten discussed in detail to provide us with information on what other states are doing and how other systems function. This exercise serves as a point of comparison and evaluation of the Massachusetts model. In comparison to other states, the Massachusetts Judicial Response System is credited as a forerunner, because it is one of the only designs where an actual statewide system exists.; Hardly ever are the lower courts or judges sitting in them interviewed for some reasonable study. In conducting my research, I interviewed twenty-four trial judges from six departments of the Massachusetts Trial Court, the majority of whom came from the District and Superior Courts. In gaining a depth of judicial experiences, I sampled for gender, race, court department, years on the bench, and regional county. A pre-test was conducted with three Trial Judges from the District, Probate and Family, and Superior Court departments.; The primary question was---how do these judges make decisions? There were two overall research questions, which were theoretical and explored the scholarly literature on judicial behavior and judicial decision-making: what is judicial decision-making? and how is it that judges decide cases? Within these larger questions are two sub-questions: how do trial judges make decisions when serving on the emergency Judicial Response System and how do they determine credibility over the phone? and what do trial judges identify as 'best practices' and how would the JRS be improved?; My main hypotheses were that trial judges conduct business as usual at night, so much so that they could literally do it blind and at night that is exactly what they do. They do not see the parties that come before them requesting emergency orders. Ex-parte hearings are conducted over the telephone, with a police officer at the scene or in the department calling on behalf of the victim. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
