Courts and Law Brooklyn Boro

New York court system backs measures to protect judges from violence

August 19, 2020 David Brand
The Brooklyn Housing Court at 141 Livingston Street, where many tenants have faced eviction without legal representation despite New York City's Right to Counsel law.
File photo by Robert Abruzzese
Share this:

The state Office of Court Administration is advocating for measures that would protect the personal information of judges and their loved ones, following the murder of a federal judge’s son at the family’s New Jersey home.

New York’s Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said Monday that the state court system is working with federal judges and state and federal law enforcement to create legislation that would shield judges’ personal information from public view.

“I want you to know that we are laser-focused on the safety and security of everyone who works in and visits our courthouses,” DiFiore said during her weekly address to the legal community.

Subscribe to our newsletters

New Jersey lawmakers are already considering a bill that would prevent anyone from posting the addresses and phone numbers of judges or prosecutors.

DiFiore’s comments on judicial safety came less than a month after a so-called “men’s rights” attorney visited the home of New Jersey Federal Judge Esther Salas and shot and killed her son. The killer also kept a photo of DiFiore in his car, OCA confirmed.

Threats against judges have increased in recent years, ABC News reported.

Hon. Janet DiFiore, the chief judge of the State of New York, was a potential target of so-called “men’s rights” lawyer Roy Den Hollander. Screenshot via NYCourts.gov

The U.S. Marshals Service counted nearly 4,500 threats and inappropriate communications against federal judges, prosecutors and court personnel last year, according to ABC. Women and people of color on the bench have been particularly targeted by violent threats.

DiFiore said OCA engages in “constant planning and training” to prevent violence, while re-evaluating existing protocols to identify and diffuse threats made against court personnel and judges, DiFiore said.

In addition, the agency is working with the state police to assess the “judicial threat management process,” DiFiore said.

OCA and the police have “an eye toward strengthening all of our policies and protocols in this area, including how we gather and maintain intelligence about potential threats, and how we provide protective services when necessary,” she said.

State court system officials are collaborating with federal prosecutors and district courts to prepare legislation but have not yet proposed specific bills, said OCA spokesperson Lucian Chalfen.

“While we have committed to supporting the effort, we are waiting to see its language before committing it to our legislative agenda,” Chalfen said.


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment

1 Comment

  1. NoMoreMarxistsInDC

    As a fathers’ rights and divorce reform advocate for over 35 years, I find this entire story stinks of government set-up and cover-up. They want to blame a “men’s rights” attorney and “men’s rights” groups for the shooting of a federal judge’s husband and son. There is more to the story that meets the eye here. How convenient to blame “men’s rights” for someone going after a judge. The media and law enforcement said this “men’s rights” attorney killed another “men’s rights” attorney in California–Marc Angellucci. They were both working on the same type of case on both coasts–getting the Federal courts to declare men were being discriminated against in the military draft and they wanted women to be subjected to the draft as well.

    Apparently the radical feminists, or “women’s rights” groups, and their leftist cohorts in all 3 branches of gov’t of the heavy radical feminist populated BLUE STATES involved (California and New York) didn’t like the idea. Now that both lawsuits have been dismissed, even though another law firm took up the cases, the powers that be are blaming “men’s rights” attorneys and groups for the shooting and threatening of judges. This is utter nonsense.

    If you notice, the cases involved only BLUE STATES, e.g., California, New York, and now New Jersey which is seeking to pass legislation to prohibit posting of addresses and phone numbers of judges & prosecutors on social media. All 3 states have far-left leaning governors and governments that want to create tyrannies under their administrations. You can’t tell me that this is about safety issues. The posting of judges’ and prosecutors’ phone numbers and addresses has been going on for years. All of a sudden it’s a problem. Only in the 3 worst radical feminist/leftist-BLUE STATES it seems.

    August 19, 2020 at 10:26 pm
    Reply