Rekrutering en (permanente) educatie van de rechtsprekende macht in vijf landen

• NCJ Number: 186288
• Author(s): N. J. Baas
• Date Published: August 2000
• Length: 219 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Netherlands Ministerie Van Justitie
• Sale Source: Netherlands Ministerie Van Justitie
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

This study by the Dutch Ministry of Justice examined the recruitment and training systems for the judiciary in five countries, with the aim of informing judicial training policy in the Netherlands.

Abstract

The countries compared were the Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. In all four of the European countries, young lawyers were recruited to participate in the judicial training. In the United States, only experienced lawyers are eligible to become members of the judiciary. Most of the countries studied have a legal ruling or general guidelines that govern training to become a judge; however, in the Netherlands there are neither legal regulations nor national guidelines for training experienced lawyers to become judges. For the theoretical part of the training, all five countries have specialized bodies that are responsible. France is the only country with a single training institute with a legally embedded monopoly position for the training of the judiciary. In all five countries, the courts provide the bulk of training in practice. In all five countries, permanent education is provided at a centralized level and, with the exception of the Netherlands, also at a decentralized level. Some of the courses deal with purely legal topics such as legislative amendments. Others focus on developing social and communicative skills. The courses at the decentralized level sometimes focus on regional topics or are specialized to such an extent that they are only intended for certain categories of judges. In France, Sweden, and the United States, participation in permanent education is compulsory or otherwise encouraged, or the culture within the judiciary is such that almost all judges feel compelled to participate in training. Only in the Netherlands and Germany does participation seem to be less compulsory and less common. In all five countries, there is a link between permanent education and career. Based on the study findings, recommendations are offered for judicial training policy, including centralized coordination of regional or local training, the importance of ongoing (permanent) judicial training, and the need for benchmarks that set goals for training. 18 tables and 34 references