Judge Judy Essay

Throughout our lectures in C101, Professor Berk has constantly emphasized the uniqueness and adaptability of American law. Built up from a foundation of common law, the American legal system allows citizens to transform concerns or perceived injuries into legal actions and keep potential wrongdoers in check, equalizing the playing field between the elites and average Americans. However, an integral factor of this legal system is knowledge of legal proceedings and of one’s own rights. When Americans are ignorant to the extent of their own rights or fall victim to predatory legislations that diminish these rights, American legal consciousness suffers for it, and the judicial system loses its equalizing power. Through the examples of both Judge

For starters, many of the plaintiffs and defendants that come onto the show have absolutely no idea how court systems work. There are numerous instances of Judge Judy herself having to explain relatively elementary concepts, like not using hearsay, bringing evidence to court to make your case (like not producing receipts, not printing out emails, not photocopying contracts, etcetera), not interrupting testimony so that the other party can make their case, and so on. There are many times where Judge Judy simply dismisses a plaintiff’s case because they do not have essentially any proof to make their case, or because they simply lack proper courtroom decorum and continuously disrupt proceedings. In one instance, Judge Judy asked a woman to take off her hat in the courtroom, and the woman refused so adamantly and condescendingly that Judge Judy simply dismissed the case and continued with the other cases on the docket. In another instance, a man attempted to sue for wrongful termination and unpaid wages, but brought forward absolutely no correspondence with his former boss and no witnesses that could affirm his work habits, and thus lost