The Judge and Criminal Justice: A Legal and Psychological Reading of an Alternative Concept of Justice

The judge is not merely a mouthpiece for the law but also a living embodiment of comprehensive justice. Justice is not confined to the words uttered in the courtroom; it extends to the judge's demeanour, gestures, expressions, glances, and even emotional responses. Thus, justice must be reflected in the judge's character. Mastery of legal procedure should be only the minimum requirement; beyond that, the judge must possess intuitive sensitivity, the logic of silence, a balanced sense of meaning, perceptive understanding, and a vision that perceives the spirit of the law without being reactive or influenced by vanity or excessive sentiment. A judge may, at times, perceive an element of victimhood in the accused or detect culpability within the victim. Such perceptiveness requires cognitive flexibility and mental agility, allowing the judge to explore alternative paths towards achieving justice unbound by unintended biases, exaggerations, or omissions. Therefore, the judge is the living embodiment of law applied through the essence of both spoken and unspoken justice.