Page 165 - เพศวิถีในคำพิพากษา

√“¬ß“π°“√«‘®—¬‡√◊ËÕ߇滫‘∂’„π§”æ‘æ“°…“ 157

JUDGING AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON

The Beam of Judges Eyes

SOCIAL CONTEXT Decision SOCIAL CONTEXT

Facts and the Law

Evodence/Legislation/Argument

Different ethnic backgrounds, customs and cultures, class, race, and disabilities affect oneûs
view of the world, as does sex. Other factors include knowledge, personal experience,
sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, gender roles, economic condition,
religious affiliation, political affiliation, group affiliation, etc. As all of these goes into the decision,
judges need to be aware of the subjectivity that they might have.

The subjectivity operates either in a positive or negative way. The example of positive
operation is shown in the decision of the Canadian Supreme Court. In Canada, 4 out of 9 supreme
court judges are women and it made a huge difference in the court decisions on gender
equality compared to the US supreme court where there is only 1 woman and 1 person of color
out of 9 judges. The negative operation is bias and prejudice. Bias and prejudice are the things
that we should recognize and avoid.

Knowing the possibility of us being subjective and sometimes biased, we must try hard
not to make a biased decision. In order to make fair and equal judgments, we have to learn
more about the unequal or disadvantaged conditions of people who appear in the court room.
That is all about judicial education on equality issues; continuous learning about new information.
It does neither harm our reputation of being reasonable judges nor threaten judicial
independence. Rather, it increases the chance to make fair and equal judgments.