19
Privatizing Justice, Stigmatizing Dependency
Judge Judy promotes the idea that the public courts are faulty, permissive,
cumbersome, and clogged with individuals who fail to take personal
responsibility for their lives. Despite the noncriminal nature of the disputes she
hears on television, Sheindlin is billed as the “Toughest Crime Fighter in New
York” on my CBS affiliate. This positioning conceals the social nature of
conflict and bypasses the democratic concept of due process with a “tough love”
approach to swiftly detecting and punishing flawed individuals. The premise of
the program hinges on Judge Judy’s capacity to provide a faster, more efficient
brand of justice with privatized hearings transmitted via television technology.
If such claims echo rationales for the privatization of public institutions from
prisons to the postal system, Judge Judy’s constitution of the troubled citizens
who require “justice with attitude” brings neoliberal templates for “better”
everyday living into the home.
While Judge Judy normalizes the privatization of public life, it also
disdains the ordinary people who use the television program to remedy injustices.
In sync with neoliberalism, Sheindlin presents “real people” who rely on the
courts resolve everyday conflicts as vulnerable and inadequate individuals who
lack the ability to manage their private affairs. She often lectures the litigants for
“wasting the court’s time,” a stance that implicitly advises viewers at home to
Convention