Forum Guest: Judge Marilyn Milian
Judge Marilyn Milian, the first Latina Judge to host a nationally syndicated television court show, presides over the courtroom that launched the entire court show genre. Milian brings to the bench extensive experience including ten years as a prosecutor, under former Attorney General Janet Reno, and seven years as a judge presiding over everything from small claims cases to death penalty litigation.
People’s Court is a one-hour nationally syndicated reality based court show featuring real litigants, real cases and real justice. People’s Court draws on ordinary people who have filed grievances in civil court and have opted to have their cases heard and mediated by Judge Milian.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Says:
In behavioral research, we try to identify and control sources of rater bias in determining the reliability and validity of an assessment. Scott Turow’s discussion of judges’ “backstories” is a step in that direction. In the case of TV courtrooms, one might ask, what additional distortions of judgment are contributed by the venue? Among these we should consider special conditions, such as the fact that all judgments are paid by court tv producers; special constraints, such as the time allocated to the segment and the desire to make the segment entertaining; special influences, such as awareness of cameras; and special outcomes, such as the effect of broad public exposure on participants. How do these influence justice, both in the judgment and the impact on litigants? We might then determine, on balance, the degree to which the experience has a positive or negative effect on public education.
Peter Irwin