The occupational stress of judges

Abstract

This paper reports the results of what is believed to be the first systematic survey of the Canadian judiciary about work-related stress. County and District Court judges from four provinces who were attending an educational event on two successive years (N = 104) reported in writing, anonymously, their perceptions of the most stressful aspects of being a judge. A similar survey of their spouses (N = 48) added another perspective to the findings. The overwhelming majority of respondents reported aspects of the work itself (for example, sentencing, child custody cases, judgements, decision-making, and jury trials) as being their primary source of occupational stress. This is not in keeping with the results of most studies, which find that workers view job factors such as role conflict, employer/employee relationships, and career decisions as being more stressful than the actual work they perform. Qualitative material from individual and group interviews suggests that additional preparation and training for the bench and mechanisms for reducing isolation and improving communication might alleviate the stress experienced by judges, while helping them to cope more effectively with their increasingly complex and difficult roles.