Opinion (José Lúcio / Judge): A happy year 2019 for Justice ?
In his recent speech at the opening ceremony of the new judicial year the President of the Supreme Court was keen to stress that the year 2018, now ended, It was an overall positive year for Justice.
José Lúcio
Judge President of Beja County
It was positive in terms of the principles governing the system, where we continue to have an independent judiciary as few are in the wide world, and efficiency plan, may refer for example that entered courts 437.554 processes and findaram 563.929, with average time pending increasingly reduced.
The number of completed cases in itself is an impressive indicator of the size of the judicial machinery and on their responsiveness.
The same can be said of the remarks of the Minister of Lady Justice on the continued improvement in terms of global disputes: the total number of cases pending in our courts of first instance has come to exceed one million and six hundred thousand, so its reduction to the level of nine hundred thousand means to bring this to the minimum pending this century.
Unfortunately these highlights the solemn opening session of the judicial year could not reach the general public. News coverage preferred to focus on those passages in the speeches of the actors, giving dissatisfactions account or repairs, could harmonize with the negative image of Justice is established as obligatory narrative.
Nothing new: as he began by highlighting the President of the STJ, "ande are accustomed to seeing justice involved in a media whirlwind that, oftentimes, express or implied, common references are the slowness, ineffectiveness, the unreasonableness of decisions or all sorts of other considerations least abonatórias."And the good news is not news ...
O que desejar então para 2019? First of all, the courts can continue to work independently and with the necessary dignity in order to accentuate the positive aspects of the years that have passed and overcome the constraints they face in their daily laboring.
This will require the concurrence of wills and the contribution of all branches of government, eliminating definitely mistrust and friction that all decrease. The existence of a judiciary weakened and discredited does not contribute, contrary to what might think rushed analysts, for institutional strengthening and prestige of the other powers of the State.
What to expect 2019? No doubt, much work – and additional problems at critical points have been identified.
These critical points are reduced essentially to two.
On the one hand the difficulty in facing those processes, few in number but heavily dominant in terms of public impact, which for many will be the only assessment tool performance Justice.
On the other hand, the need to overcome the communication gap that decisively affects the relationship between justice and society, and in this way to overcome widespread images and narratives that unfairly penalize those who, with undeniable spirit of service, her devoted the best of their lives.
At the end we will have to take stock. For now, let's go to work.
(Text written under the previous rule to spell AO1990, by the author's option)
