Letter: Pay judges based on their merit
Keywords: lawyer, ordering, law, attorney, solicitor, order, Gavel, lawyers, court, attorneys, judge, courts, solicitors, Judges, JI-23136733 Credit: Photos.com/
Your editorial ["State judges overdue for a raise," Sept. 2] implies that all judges deserve a raise. But if (as most people seem to say) teacher pay should be merit-based, shouldn't judges' pay? Based on some outrageous sentences, I'd say some judges ought to suffer pay cuts rather than pay raises.
You (correctly) say, "Clearly judges' purchasing power has taken a powerful beating over the dozen years. . . ." I'd add that sentencing sanity also has gone downhill.
You say, "retain top-notch jurists" -- but what percentage of them are top-notch?
As for "what's fair for the state's 1,200 judges" -- what's fair for crime victims, their families and society? Too many sentences are not "fair" -- when the victim is dead (or maimed for life), but the perpetrator gets to live the rest of his or her life in freedom after some community service, a fine and/or a few years in jail.
Richard Siegelman, Plainview
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 25: Wrestling and hockey state championships On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg Sarra and Matt Lindsay recap all the state wrestling action from Albany this past weekend, plus Jared Valluzzi has the ice hockey championship results from Binghamton.
