This is Rumbull Strip America Heilman.

Justice is a very intimate virtue, and it only occurs on a face-to-face basis.

You can write all the case law, you can write all the laws, pass all the programs, that's not justice.

Justice is the interpersonal reaction of two people and that's what judges are supposed to do.

That's retired. do.

That's retired Vermont Judge Ed Cashman. Cashman spent 25 years on the bench, presiding over drunk driving cases and murders and everything in between.

After some time on the bench, he started to question whether the American criminal justice

system was actually achieving justice. He began to feel like the kinds of sentences that the public

demanded and that lawyers often accepted. They felt more like vengeance than fairness.

Cashman tried to give defendants, even though he was charged with heinous crimes,

he tried to give them a chance to redeem themselves.

It was a philosophy that some people didn't understand and Cashman eventually paid a very high price for this

Here's a conversation with Judge Cashman. Welcome Judges are in charge of fairness. That's the best way I can describe it. And I've asked

myself this question a number of times, why am I here?

Now what is the contribution you're making to society?

You're certainly not another prosecutor, which public at time expects that.

The judge is supposed to pick up the mistakes the prosecutor makes and make sure the guy gets convicted.

No, no, and you're certainly not a defense lawyer. You're not there for the purpose to

casticate the state for the things they do wrong. And you look at it after a while.

Well, your job is to make sure the system is applying the rules fairly and is attempting to respect the dignity of every person

that comes in there.

What do you think that people, what do people get wrong about judges?

...