UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff NNeeww OOrrlleeaannss SScchhoollaarrWWoorrkkss@@UUNNOO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations and Theses Dissertations Summer 8-2-2012 TThhee RReellaattiioonnsshhiipp bbeettwweeeenn LLeeggaall aanndd EExxttrraa--lleeggaall FFaaccttoorrss:: HHooww JJuuddggeess CCoommee ttoo MMaakkee tthheeiirr DDeecciissiioonnss iinn DDoommeessttiicc VViioolleennccee CCaasseess Ioulia Koublitskaia [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Part of the Civil Law Commons, and the Family Law Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Koublitskaia, Ioulia, "The Relationship between Legal and Extra-legal Factors: How Judges Come to Make their Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases" (2012). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1541. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1541 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Relationship between Legal and Extra-legal Factors: How Judges Come to Make their Decisions in Domestic Violence Cases A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Studies - Urban Planning by Yulia Sergei Nadya Tataina Koublitskaia Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, Kaluga State University, Russia, 1998 Bachelor of Science in Hotel Restaurant and Tourism Administration, University of New Orleans, LA, 2001 Master of Science in Hotel Restaurant and Tourism Administration, University of New Orleans, LA, 2007 August, 2012 Acknowledgements To God: Thank you for your endless LOVE! To my Grandfather: Thank you for being the Superman and my HERO in every step of my life. I am blessed because I am loved by you. Though we are far apart, you are always in my heart. To my Dochen'ka Naden'ka: As I look into your eyes, I see all the reasons why my life is worth a thousand skies. You are my greatest Love of All! To Grandma Nadya: Thank you for being my mother, my friend, my advisor, and our family Dictator. You always know the Best! My world is a better place because of you! To My Mother: I apologize it took so long to finish this journey. I deeply regret that I was not able to spend as much time as I always wanted with you during the process. Please, forgive me; I love you, Mama! For all the times you stood by me, thank you for being my strength when I was weak. To Craig: From Spain to New Orleans and between, Alabama and Washington DC, it would be next to impossible to collect and move this dissertation from ground zero without your limitless help, wisdom, and support, dear Professor! To Dr. Jenkins: Thank you for your excellent guidance, caring, patience, and for providing me with an excellent atmosphere for doing research. To Dr. Thompson and Dr. Day: Thank you for your direct contribution, encouragement, supervision, and support in understanding of the subject for this dissertation. To Dr. Peter Scharf: Thank you for your expertise and wiliness to help me in this endeavor. To Judge Calvin Johnson: Thank you for your time and commitment to this project. To Judge Bernadette D'esouza: Thank you for your inspiration and ability to help in my learning process. ii To Husni Qurt: Thank you for being my friend and the best study partner through the years of my doctoral studies. To Senator Julie Quinn: Thank you for your support in my Endeavour. To all the interviewed Judges: Thank you for participating in this research with interest and enthusiasm, which made this dissertation possible. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements.........................................................................................................................ii List of Tables................................................................................................................................vii Abstract........................................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1.........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................1 Significance of the Study............................................................................................................5 Chapter 2.........................................................................................................................................6 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................6 Major Legislation Affecting the Adjudication of Domestic Violence Cases.........................6 How Changes in Domestic Violence Laws Impact Outcomes...............................................9 Deficiencies in Current Research .............................................................................................15 Chapter 3.......................................................................................................................................16 Theoretical Framework.............................................................................................................16 Theories of Adjudication: Formalism, Skepticism, and Realism.........................................16 Formalism..........................................................................................................................17 Skepticism..........................................................................................................................19 Realism..............................................................................................................................21 Models of Judicial Decision-Making....................................................................................22 Legal model.......................................................................................................................23 Attitudinal model...............................................................................................................24 Strategic model..................................................................................................................26 Institutional model.............................................................................................................27 Personal attributes model...................................................................................................28 Research Questions...................................................................................................................31 Chapter 4.......................................................................................................................................32 Research Design: Case Study...................................................................................................32 Qualitative Research.............................................................................................................33 Methods: Observations, Interviews, and Analysis of Court Documents..............................34 Observations......................................................................................................................35 Scheduling of observations................................................................................................37 Court observation protocol................................................................................................37 Interviews...........................................................................................................................39 Analysis of court documents..............................................................................................40 Sampling frame..................................................................................................................42 Data....................................................................................................................................43 Creating categories.............................................................................................................45 Validity and reliability.......................................................................................................45 Triangulation......................................................................................................................48 Ethical Considerations..............................................................................................................49 Data Analysis............................................................................................................................50 Data Processing.....................................................................................................................50 Background characteristics................................................................................................51 Expectancy factors.............................................................................................................52 Data description.................................................................................................................52 iv Context...............................................................................................................................53 Process...............................................................................................................................53 Classification......................................................................................................................53 Coding and developing category systems..........................................................................54 Summary...................................................................................................................................55 Analysis....................................................................................................................................56 Chapter 5.......................................................................................................................................58 Setting.......................................................................................................................................58 Brief Overview of the Structure of the Louisiana Court System..........................................58 District court jurisdiction...................................................................................................59 Parish courts.......................................................................................................................59 City courts..........................................................................................................................60 Organization of the Court: Jefferson Parish: The Twenty Fourth Judicial District Court....61 Domestic cases...................................................................................................................61 Description of the 24th Judicial District courtrooms.........................................................62 Appointment of domestic commissioners..........................................................................62 Appointment of domestic hearing officers........................................................................63 Structure discussion from the court observations and interviews......................................65 Organization and Description of the Court: Orleans Parish Courts......................................67 Orleans Parish Civil District Court....................................................................................67 Orleans Parish Criminal District Court..............................................................................67 Orleans Parish Municipal Court.........................................................................................68 Tension between Orleans Municipal and Criminal Courts.......................................................70 Summary...................................................................................................................................75 Chapter 6.......................................................................................................................................76 Context of Judiciary..................................................................................................................76 Judicial Socialization............................................................................................................76 Judicial Role Orientation......................................................................................................85 Chapter 7.......................................................................................................................................90 Theoretical Analysis.................................................................................................................90 Judges and the Theories........................................................................................................90 Judicial belief systems.......................................................................................................90 Through the "eyes" of formalism...................................................................................91 Through the "eyes" of skepticism..................................................................................94 Through the "eyes" of realism......................................................................................102 “Hunches” and fluidity in judicial decision-making: Realism accounts.........................108 Biases...........................................................................................................................113 Realism and Sentencing: Extra-Legal Factors (Personal Factors) Matter?........................121 Judges and the Theories..........................................................................................................126 Common Emergent Themes Across all Theoretical Perspectives..........................................127 Contradictions of the Bench................................................................................................127 “The God of the Courtroom”...........................................................................................127 Experts.............................................................................................................................132 Chapter 8.....................................................................................................................................142 Conclusions.............................................................................................................................142 Structure and Adjudication of DV Cases in Both Parishes.................................................152 v The Relationship between Legal and Extra-Legal Factors.................................................153 Diversity in Judges’ Daily Practice Styles..........................................................................154 Successes, Challenges, and Innovation in the Decision-Making Process of Adjudication of Domestic Violence Cases...................................................................................................155 Training and Feedback........................................................................................................156 Implications for Policy and Practice.......................................................................................157 Study Strengths and Limitations.............................................................................................159 Recommendations for Further Research.................................................................................160 References...................................................................................................................................161 APPENDIX A: Twenty-Fourth Judicial District Court..............................................................171 APPENDIX B: Orleans Criminal and Municipal Courts...........................................................172 APPENDIX C: Judicial Interview Questions.............................................................................173 Appendix D: IRB Approval........................................................................................................175 Vita..............................................................................................................................................176 vi List of Tables Table 1. Coding Data (Tesch, 1990)..............................................................................................54 Table 2. Coding Process................................................................................................................55 Table 3. Summary of Structure......................................................................................................70 vii Abstract The purpose of this research is to understand how Trial Court Judges in state and city courts make decisions in domestic violence cases. The researcher examined the relationship between legal (e.g., evidence) and extra-legal factors (e.g., preconceived biases and behaviors related to judicial decision-making) using a qualitative research design. A case study of multiple locations in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes was used whereby a purposive sample of 17 current civil, municipal, and criminal court judges were interviewed. Judicial decision-making strategies were studied via face-to-face interviews, courtroom observations, and content analysis of courtroom communications (e.g., speech, written text, interviews, images, etc.). The researcher discusses future applications of the study as well as the application of findings to assist in exploring judicial decision-making processes. This qualitative research may be beneficial to policy planners, practitioners, and sociologists in gaining insight into the complexity of the judges’ decision-making processes. Key Words: Judicial Decision-making, Domestic Violence Court, Domestic Violence Court Cases in LA, Judges’ Rulings in Domestic Violence Cases viii Chapter 1 Introduction On the topic of judicial decision-making, Hon. Alex Kozinski (1993), U.S. Court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit stated, Under our law judges do in fact have considerable discretion in their decisions-making findings of fact, interpreting language in the Constitutions, statutes, and regulations; determining whether officials or the executive branch have abused their discretion; and, fashioning remedies for violations of the law, including fairly sweeping powers to grant injunctive relief. The larger reality, however, is that judges exercise their power subject to very significant constraints. (p. 993-994) Sociologists and psychologists have tried to describe, understand, and discover how humans make judgments and decisions. Additionally, researchers have studied and analyzed court cases in an effort to establish a theory of judicial decision-making. Everson (1919) identified what he called the remarkable degree to which the cases he studied reflected the temperament and personality of an individual judge. His work highlighted the richness and complexity of the appearance of justice, which refers to the notion that a trial judge's appearance, conduct or behavior must never indicate that he or she believes the accused party is guilty (Blanck, Rosenthal, & Cordell, 1985; Everson, 1919). Everson (1919) observed judges who exhibited, The warm human attributes of our ministers of justice... their peculiarities of temperament, their chance of prejudice, their warm open-heartedness or their petty tyrannies, their leniencies or their severities are all supposed to be charmed away by the donning of judicial robes and the justice they dispense is supposed to be an abstract thing as immutable as the law of gravitation. (p.90) Everson (1919) concluded that his findings were startling because the appearance of justice seemed to be grounded more so in the personality of the judges than in any legally principled approach. Everson (1919) also summed that, regardless of the law, its actual enforcement and accountability depend on judges' attitudes toward the allegedly guilty party. 1