{"id":31065,"date":"2011-08-15T14:32:21","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T20:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=31065"},"modified":"2011-08-15T14:32:25","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T20:32:25","slug":"there-is-help-available-for-judges-in-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/08\/there-is-help-available-for-judges-in-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"There is help available for judges in trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_31066\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 120px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31066\" title=\"Kennedy, Roderick T\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Kennedy-Roderick-T.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"160\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Roderick T. Kennedy<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This is in response to Heath Haussamen\u2019s Aug. 10 column, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/08\/the-way-to-a-better-judiciary\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cThe way to a better judiciary.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The judicial branch has a few things available to try to help judges in trouble. The lawyer assistance program through the state bar that\u2019s available to lawyers is also there to help judges with alcohol\/substance problems and psychological difficulties. We\u2019re told frequently and up front that if we have a problem we should take care of it. Such self-referral (and occasionally referrals from those around us are made, too) is treated confidentially, as is any counseling or other treatment that\u2019s received, so long as a problem has not already gotten outside attention.<\/p>\n<p>To the extent such problems or treatment might interfere with one\u2019s judicial duties, leaves of absence to receive this sort of health care can be arranged. If related behavior has already occurred constituting misconduct in office, that\u2019s a different matter.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, not every DWI is a priori the result of a problem with alcohol that\u2019s of longer duration than the unfortunate day something happened. Some might just be a horrible mistake, and even judges can make those in their private lives. Getting a handle on one problem before it relates to another (the phenomenon of \u201calcohol-assisted getting caught problems\u201d is real) is a true issue for any professional.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, a DWI is something to look at as an indicator of a more broad problem (I used to supervise a large screening program for DWI offenders), but some offenders are one-timers. Those are hard to predict.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Another factor that I\u2019ve seen contributing to latent problems suddenly becoming blatant is how hard many of us work to keep a grip on our professional lives to avoid mistakes of any sort there at the expense of personal well-being. We are all aware to a significant degree of the effect a bad personal decision or incident can have on our public lives. The difference between how a judge exists balancing personal and professional aspects of his\/her life and a regular person can be pretty stark.<\/p>\n<p>The degree of social isolation inherent to being a judge is significant. Between the work and personal lives, there\u2019s a degree of compartmentalization that can make judges prone to ignore personal concerns to protect the professional side of their lives \u2013 putting more and more energy into hanging on at work while things at home slide (an issue common to many professions).<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/coa.nmcourts.gov\/bios\/kennedy.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Kennedy<\/a> is a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The judicial branch has a few things available to try to help judges in trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2306,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[161],"class_list":["post-31065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-judiciary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2306"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}