Judicial Misconduct and Public Confidence in the Rule of Law

Judicial misconduct breaks down the very fibre of what is necessary for a functional judiciary- citizens who believe their judges are fair and impartial.  The judiciary cannot exist without the trust and confidence of the people. Judges must, therefore, be accountable to legal and ethical standards. In holding them accountable for their behaviour, judicial conduct review must be performed without invading the independence of judicial decision-making. This task can be daunting.

Mr. David J. Sachar, Executive Director of the Judicial Discipline and Disciplinary Commission in Arkansas, United States and Advisory Board Member of the National Center for State Courts, recently shared his views on judicial misconduct with UNODC, as part of the Organization's on-going work to exchange good practices in the investigation of misconduct.

Increase access to sport for youth from marginalised communities in Central Asia

The 'Line Up, Live Up' curriculum is currently piloted in 11 countries around the globe, including in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, building the capacity of sports coaches, teachers and community workers by enabling them to use sport as a tool for prevention of violence and crime among youth. 

One of the important elements of the initiative is to facilitate access to sports for youth, especially those from marginalised communities, as well as through the refurbishment of sports centres and schools. In Tajikistan, UNODC supported the renovation of a sports centre on taekwondo and archery in Dushanbe, in order to improve the condition of the facility and increase local youth's access to sports. While in Kyrgyzstan, two additional sports centres were renovated in Osh and Mailyy-Suu cities. 

Artificial Intelligence: A New Trojan Horse for Undue Influence on Judiciaries?

For more than three decades, information and communications technology (ICT) advancements have burst into the operations of courts and prosecutors' offices promising transparency, efficiency and radical changes to working practices, such as paperless courts. Even if in most jurisdictions such promises have yet to be fulfilled, software programmes and algorithms are already executing growing chunks of judicial procedures.  The impacts such technologies have on the functioning of justice systems and the values endorsed by the  Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct are mostly positive.