ctv_will: Welcome to Court TV Online chats. We'll be joined in just a little while by Judge Joe Brown. Agossie asks: Where are you ctv_will: I'm in NYC, but Judge Joe will be in L.A. There's a ton of stuff we can talk to him about. As you may know from the introduction of his show, he grew up in a very high crime, low income area of L.A. Even though he's on TV, he's a real judge, and a well respected one at that. Recently he made the decision to work exclusively on the TV show. Someone should ask him what went into that decision. I'm curious to know. He recently testified in the MLK assassination conspiracy trial, so someone can ask him his opinion of that, and whether he thinks it was a conspiracy. I'm pretty sure he was one of the appelate judges for James Earl Ray. jmantwenty asks: Is judge Joe Brown a tough as nails judge with spunk and a modern attitude? ctv_will: As a matter of fact, yes! LOL!! are you his publicist? :) Something else I'm curious to hear from Judge Joe is what he thinks of prison overcrowding and being "tough on crime." Are sentences too harsh? Is the war on drugs a failure? Having come from such a tough background, I wonder how he feels about all the juvenile crime we've seen recently. babynj316 asks: Hey Judge Brown I just wanted to say that i really admire your style!!! ctv_will: I won't be able to show these in the chat, but I'll make sure Judge Joe is aware of them. Ok, I've got him here!!! Welcome Judge Joe! Judge Joe Brown: Thank you. inspectorpd asks: How do you feel court on TV has affected the public? Positive or negative Judge Joe Brown: Positively. What you see is this, seeking entertainment through enlightenment and the system. Editor's note: The computer took us off line for the bulk of this answer. What you see here is the remains of what was recorded. Judge Joe Brown: test. ctv_will: back. Judge Joe Brown: They see the executive office quite frequently, they see the legislative office more than I think they really want to see them, but they don't see the judicial branch. What you get with this court tv genre is a stylized interpretation. We need this because we see a reaffirmance of what we are all about when we see sombody hand down a declaration that somethig is worng or right. parduph asks: Is it hard to hold court while being filmed? Judge Joe Brown: No, it's not. It's the real deal, just within the limited context of time, you have to make some accomodations. And the judicial system is apt at such accomodations. For example, it is what you see on the appelate level when each side is given a specific time limit to present the essential elements of their case. And that's what we do with our show. We file it down so in a half hour you see issues presented and resolutions made. akadjogger asks: I need to go on his show? I want to sue a doctor for malpractice. Will he take my case? ctv_will: How does someone get on your show? Judge Joe Brown: We don't deal with that. We deal with small claims. our jurisdiction is at 5,000 dollars. On my show, we tend to deal with the aftermath of what might be criminal acts but what are know in law as tortious acts. We look to already-filed small claims and we give people a number 1-877-JOES-LAW to call to approach us about handling certain matters. In any event, we do require there be an actual filing in a state court. We deal with situations where sometimes there is an effort to defraud what we do, and we have been pretty good at ferretting out such non-cases. But for the most part, what we have is an alternative that offers a litigant an opportunity to dispose of his or her case much more expeditiously than would be the result of state litigation. We also guarantee collection and enforcement of judgments. daisypusher23 asks: What are your thoughts on Proposition 21? y2kdebugger_2000 asks: I would like to hear your opinion on how to keep kids safe from school shootings and juvenile crime in general Judge Joe Brown: We can't do it on the level we are on at the courts because that's after the fact. We need to make some hard choices as people as far as what our children are taught- values, and a purpose, a national cause as it were. We need to do something very quickly. In other words, why are you here? Is it just to enjoy youself, to exploit the environment, and the economoy, and the social contract? Or do you have an obiligation to one's people, one's state and one's country? What sort of difference will your life make in what happens to humanity in the future? shortenbread asks: why not make the criminal pull the full sentence and not let them off with a 3rd or less ? Judge Joe Brown: We have a perspective problem. The amount of time the criminal defendant serves for a given amount of time is actually longer here than anywhere in the world. Even though he only serves a small percentage of the designated sentence. You must comprehend that our criminal justice system has evolved with or without conscious input, into a system that is more concerned with handling surplus labor than it is with handling criminal matters. Labor is a comodity. Like wheat, corn, cotton or soy beans. When there is a glut in a comodity, where there is a bumper crop of beans, the demand for beans is reduced. The response is usually to store the surplus in a grain silo, driving up the price of the available beans. Finding an alternative use for the beans, subsidising the farmer such as paying him not to grow the beans. In the criminal justice system, we store our surplus in the prison. The subsidy is the welfare check And the alternative: the wrong lifestyles, drug use, violence, etc. that keeps people from becoming effecting labor units. The individals in question cause their communities to become chaotic and politically non-viable thereby preventing such impacted communities from engaging in self help. Such conduct also serves a scapegoat funtion insomuchas people direct their attention toward immediately perceived dangers in lieu of scrutininzing the exercize of economic and social political options. In other words, you might not pay attentiont to the economic agenda of a party or candidates if you are preoccupied with personal fear relative to walking from your front door to your car port. Meanwhile, those persons confined to penal institutions provide the raw material for a multi-billion dollar growth industry concerned with the provision of supervision, food essentials, clothing, shelter, and administration to inmates. What happens is that you take a large number of able-bodied adults who have never worked long enough to collect an unemployment check, who are otherwise dysfuntional, and you turn them into a utility that benefits the operation and functioning of our current system. We do not need to allow this to continue and we must do something to break the cycle. The person who is loudly proclaiming that if elected he will be tough on crime is likely to have a financial investment in the byproduct of crime. He is not likely to be sincere in any effort to reduce criminal activity when said activity is economically profitable to him or her. By exposing the people to manifestations of the application of justice through court television, you enable them to become more familar with, and accustomed to, the subtleties that are inherent in any scheme that attempts to address the vicissitudes of human interaction. As they become more familiar with such things, they become more demanding of coherent solutions to such problems, such that our society develops alternative responses that are more productive and viable, involving more of our population in a meaningful existence and particiaption in the system. y2kdebugger_2000 asks: Do you think James Earl Ray was a scapegoat or do you think he was the assasin? Judge Joe Brown: Lets put it this way, the rifle that they have in evidence is not the murder weapon. It would appear that the weapon that was used to kill Dr. King was a 308/7.62 NATO calibur weapon. A weapon that generally would have a 1 in 12 inch twist which is consistent with the bullet removed from Dr. King. The weapon in evidence is a 30 odd 6 with a 1 in 10 inch rifling twist that was never sited and that, when tested, fired off the mark right and low at 100 yards, and which was excluded by a number of other tests. It would appear that the FBI never conducted any meaningful test on the weapon in question, simply providing purported test results consistent with the policies and desires of J. Edgar Hoover rather than as the product of empirically and scientifically rigorous testing. James Earl Ray appears to have been a low level consipiritor who knew very little about the overall circumstances- with the watch words being "need to know basis" and Ray having little need to know. Hence he had little knowledge of the goings-on that swirled around Dr. King. He seems to have been pursuaded that he might have been a patriot by assisting with a cover-up of the trail of the true culprits. So that it would grow cold before attetnion was directed towards other activities. James Earl Ray did not even get caught by law enforcement. He basically caught himself. He had numerous credentials that were issued under such circumstances pertaining to such identification inditia that suggests very high level involvement. It is likely that official persons with official resources were involved acting in an unofficial capacity. In other words, do it with our blessing, but if you're caught, we deny knowledge. The trail has grown cold as to reigning-in individual culprits, but it has not grown so cold as to prevent acertainment of the circumstances. I personally would suggest that anyone interested apply to the Center for Assassination Records and Reveiw that is loccated in Washington, D.C. and created by Congressional mandate and presidental executive order. There are very interesting and informative internal memoranda releveant to the conduct of the U.S. and it's agencies and personnel as pertaining to the events surrounding the death of Dr. King. It is quite disturbing that there are cold and calculated discussions of the merits of assassinating Dr. King in the documents that are now contained in this repository. As a generation in existence, we owe it to our posterity to ferit out what we can of the events that occurred in 1968 so that our government, a government that concerns itself with a free democratic republic, does not engage in such conduct in the future. parduph asks: What has been your hardest case since you became a judge? Judge Joe Brown: The irrationality that is sometimes displayed by the interaction of humans. It is particularly hard to deal with by debt of mental illness, perspective, upbringing, socialization, and occculteration that you handle people who are handicapped in comprehending those things that most people base their conduct upon. adam-story asks: Hello Mr. Brown, are political parties trying to encourage judges? Judge Joe Brown: What do you mean by that? ctv_will: Does politics have an effect on the decisions judges make? Judge Joe Brown: It does, and what I'm noticing is a legislative trend to shift judges at a lower level who will feel the effects of an unpopular but necessary decision. In some cases, you apply to a local judge instead of a supreme court judge because the local judge has more at stake politically. Generally judges tend to have been involved in the political process prior to their rise to the bench. Either through the process of election or appointment. cj_52_2000 asks: judge what do you think about the san antiono boy that got 5 yrs for elbowing Judge Joe Brown: Personally, I think it was a travesty. At worst, that's a misdemeanor. It appears that someone is using this as a political football, pun intended, for some personal enhancement and advancement. The use of a hockey stick to club someone unconsciuos is one thing. An elbow, rough play in the course of a basketball game, as suggested by the video tape through the media suggests that a five year sentence, minor prior record aside, is being used as a political vehicle. It wrenches my gut not saying that some should have done something to address this, but as a jurist I am basically appalled to see every now and then we are too lenient in our system and we cause questions to be asked as to our relevance, and every now and then we are so Draconian in our conduct as to suggest that we are not firmly grounded in reality. celesta21 asks: HI I'M UR GREATEST FAN..DO U LIKE UR JOB? Judge Joe Brown: As a criminal court judge, my job was fascinating but I didn't like the subject matter and the responsiblity and what the business was I was about. As a TV judge, considering that the issues are resolved with economic consequences and not penal consequences I am better abel to enoy the interaction of the litigants and the fascinating light that it sheds on human conduct. jlw_13_2000 asks: Hi I am 14 and I want to be a lawyer, what high school courses should I take? Judge Joe Brown: Take all the english you can take. Learn to think. Anything with critical and analytical thinking. Music. Learn to deal with people. mozel_us asks: How do you feel about the use of minors using the internet? Judge Joe Brown: It's like what's happening technologically with human beings. What's wrong with books, type writers, and real human interaction? Is there anything wrong with interacting in the uban or rural environment? In other words, it's a new day. Our economy is becoming more and more based on these things, so it would behoove them to become familiar with it. Of course, there are those things which should be forbidden to minors. But we have to let them grow up rather than protect them so much that they never grow up because everything has become so child proof that there is no adult world. myrottweiller3 asks: do you think father's should have equal rights under custody like 50-50 , when it come to visitation and custody, I'm in canada and I have about 10% under that at the moment ctv_will: What are your thoughts on issues of parental responsibility that have been in the news lately? Judge Joe Brown: Ordinarily we have left certain things to the families, and that includes the rearing of the chilren , the achievent of majority and purpose. More and more we find people who are in what is less than family units that are incapable of preparing them for what is in today's world. And we have to collectively do something about that. It is a hollow mockery of our responsibility to say that we shoud leave it to he family when there is no family sometimes. In my court, six years ago, there was a 57 year old woman who was before me on a felony drug case. I had her second daughter in trial who was pregnant with her 15th child when I sentenced her on a felony drug case. I had her 42 year old daughter, her 32 year old son, and her 31 year old daughter also on a felony drug case. I had the 21 year old daughter of the 34 year old on a drug case, and the 21 year old had an 11 year old who was also in trouble. All told, I counted 6 generations, 358 lineal descendants, and only 2 of them had a full time job, and only 4 had graduated. What do we do about a unit like this when not a single one of them had the guidance of a man around? I think that addresses the question of who is responsible for raising a child. Hilliary Clinton uses the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child. We have the mission which is to deal witht he requisites of the changing society. Anthropoligists say we all came out of Nothern Africa. We moved around and became different races, but we should still be what we could be and say "welcome brother" and take each other into the fold. We need not editorialization, but conduct modes that are benefitial to a new future. We must move into the new future with the knowledge that the human race moves forward on empirical effort. We must be courageous and overcome our fear. If Court TV wants to do something positive for this country, it should concentrate on the positive contributions in this country instead of focusing on the behavior of the less courageous, and less focused and less strong willed, and making it seem like that behavior is ok. It is not. If you watch my show, you will see that attempt to enlighten as well as entertain. The entertainment is enlightenment. People revel in appropriate conduct, seconded through approval of intelligent media. They also revel in the denunciation of inappropriate conduct. When they get me and they talk to me, they don't approach me as a wit, the approach me as an authority. Because over the last few decades I have explored where we should go with our system to achieve certain purposes. ctv_will: Ok, I know you have to be going, I really appreciate you taking this time with us. Judge Joe Brown: Ok, thank you very much. I actually have quite a history with Court TV, they were in my court room a few times. ctv_will: Yes, there was a case with a neglected baby that I recall. Judge Joe Brown: Yes, there was that and a murder trial, and the MLK civil trial recently. Those other cases were before I had the TV show. ctv_will: Yes, you had quite a reputation even before you were a TV celebrity. Thanks again for talking to us. Judge Joe Brown: Ok, thank you. Bye now. mattaus99 asks: Is this really Judge Joe Brown??? ctv_will: Ok, let me tell you guys about the behind the scenes of what just happened. As you can probably tell by the miserable typos, I was doing the typing for Judge Brown. The whole time he was doing this chat, he was on his cell phone in a place in LA called Exoticar Model Gallery He was raving about what a great place it is and how helpful the staff is (no, this isn't a commercial, I'm not even sure what they sell). He did say that he's a collector, and I heard him discussing something with wings with a clerk, so I'm guessing they have model planes there as well. ANYWAY, right in the middle of him giving and answer, he pauses and says off the phone to someone, Hi, I'm Judge Joe Brown, I have a TV show. and the other person says, "Sure, I know you, I love the comments you make." Then Judge Brown gets back on the phone and says to me, "Hey, I just met Sylvester Stallone, he's here too!" So any of you in LA who want to do a little star gazing, head on over to Exoticar Model Gallery and if you're lucky, you can see Judge Joe and Sly Stallone. As for the answers, holy cow, who knew he'd have such elaborate answers? That was really great. My arms are killing me from trying to keep up with him. I thought he would be real impatient, but he was really very nice and very open. When he picked up the phnoe at first he said, "This is a twenty minute interview right?" And I said, "We'll take you as long as we can have you," but once he got into a groove, he just kept going! phew! darrylp_2000 asks: HELLO JUDGE HOW ARE YOU 2DAY? ctv_will: He was really cheery and in good spirits. brandy_damsel asks: where is syslvester stallone ???is he suppose to be there too ?? ctv_will: That was a totally random LA thing. He's not here, he's at some place called Exoticar Model Gallery in LA That's where Judge Joe was on his cell phone doing this chat and Sly just walked in!! its_chef_on_southpark asks: Did you find the judge's responses eloquent and well stated, Will? ctv_will: Very much so. I was caught off guard. Not that I thought he'd be dumb or anything, but I didn't realize he was such an orator. sunny2000_usa asks: Don't you have a set time or place so that the guest can talk without any outside interruptions betty_rubble_20 asks: Some say this chat was unproffesional on the Judge's part, is that true:? ctv_will: I wouldn't say that Betty. To Sunny's question, we definitely have a set time, but the internet is such that we don't need a set place. Personally, I prefer for the guest to be comfortable. Often on TV guests choose their words too carefully and end up saying nothing. Betty, I'm guessing some are saying it was unprofessional because he was at the hobby shop or whatever it is. I understand why you might think that, but his answers didn't suffer for it. I once did a chat with a guest who was in a media van with no distractions, but somehow she managed to give one word answers and talk to other people she was hardly paying attention. That was unprofessional, and I complained afterward. Judge Joe was definitely paying attention. If he'd been a little more distracted it might have been easier to keep up with him on the keyboard!! sunny2000_usa asks: Do you have voice chat? Where the guest could speak the answers and they appear on the screen ctv_will: Yahoo does them now and then. Yesterday I was in the video chat with the cast of the new X-men movie, and that was cool. I don't think I have the equipment here right now (more of that money issue) but it's definitely something I want to try. ctv_will: Ok, I gotta get out of here. I haven't eaten yet and it's 8:30 on the east coast. Next CTV chat is Tuesday at 7pET Until then, fear simple answers. This chat has ended, you may go in peace. :)