Psychological Grounds for Judicial Activity

Abstract

The subject of the research is the personal traits of a judge and psychological peculiarities of judicial process. The authors focus on personal traits of all participants of a judicial process. The stage of trial is the climax of the entire pre-trial procedure. At this stage there is a direct confrontation between parties, available evidences are presented, studied and evaluated, in rare cases new evidences are discovered. This is the stage when a judge has the main role, besides legal functions he also arranges and manages regulation of interaction between all participants. In the course of their research the authors have used the methods of bibliographical analysis, analysis of documents and observation over participants of court procedcure. For efficient performance of his or her functions, a judge must have excellent knowledge of law and a whole number of personal qualities such as strong will, resistence to stress, communicative skills, etc. A judge experiences the influence of certain negative factors that accumulate and may seriously harm his or her personality. Another important role is performed by a prosecutor who also represents the state but is always at the part of accusation. Prosecutor's competence, argumentation and persuasion skills allow to complete efforts made by law enforcement agencies at the pre-trial stage. The accused is another participant worthy of attention. At the stage of trial his or her personality undergoes serious changes that define his or her further behaviour. The judicial decision-making process implies all kinds of available evidences as well as personal traits of all participants of a criminal process.