The Judge System
Street Judges act as police, judge, jury and, if necessary, on-the-spot executioner. Capital punishment in Mega-City One is rarely used, though deaths while resisting arrest are numerous. Numerous writers have used the Judge System to satirize contemporary politics.
Judges, once appointed, can be broadly characterised as "Street Judges" (who patrol the city), and administrative, or office-based, judges. Dredd was once offered the job of Chief Judge, but he refused it, believing that he was needed far more out on the streets. The incorruptibility of the Judges is supposedly maintained by the Special Judicial Squad, although even SJS judges have themselves broken the law on occasion, most notably SJS head Judge Cal who killed the chief judge and usurped his office for himself.
The Judge System has spread throughout the globe, with various super-cities besides Mega-City One possessing some sort of Judge System of law enforcement and government. As such this political model has become the most common form of government on Earth, with only a few small areas practicing traditional civilian rule. There is an international "Judicial Charter" which countries and city states join upon instituting a Judge system.
Read more about this topic: Judge Dredd
Famous quotes containing the words judge and/or system:
“I judge a man by his actions with men, much more than by his declarations Godwards—When I find him to be envious, carping, spiteful, hating the successes of others, and complaining that the world has never done enough for him, I am apt to doubt whether his humility before God will atone for his want of manliness.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“The North American system only wants to consider the positive aspects of reality. Men and women are subjected from childhood to an inexorable process of adaptation; certain principles, contained in brief formulas are endlessly repeated by the press, the radio, the churches, and the schools, and by those kindly, sinister beings, the North American mothers and wives. A person imprisoned by these schemes is like a plant in a flowerpot too small for it: he cannot grow or mature.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)