Judicial Neutrality

• Judicial Neutrality


  Justices should not be swayed by their own political opinions and should stay out of party politics. Conflicts of interests are avoided by justices sitting on cases that involve a family member or friend
• Arguments for neutrality

  • Rulings must be made on the basis of law: judges must explain how they reached decisions
  • Peer review: any judicial opinion can be appealed and reviewed by a higher court and cases are heard by a group of at least 5 judges
  • Restrictions on group memberships: not allowed to join party
  • Slowly becoming more diverse: Pre Joint Action Committee (JAC) 13% female and post JAC 29% (2017-18)
• Arguments against neutrality

  • Judges are a product of their environment and may have unconscious bias
  • Risk of politicians and media trying to politicise them
  • Increasing visibility of judges undermines partiality