Court plays a significant and critical role in the quest for justice. It takes pride in its accomplishments but at times the services they offer come with a price. Studies carried out by various researchers have shown that stress in court proceedings have a higher degree of impact on the court judges and the employees.
Stress experienced among the judges may be influenced by various factors, one of them being occupational burnout. This negatively affects the ability of a judge to consider relevant evidences provided for the particular case. In addition, the experience of judges may affect jurors who are unable to perform their duties well due to inadequate instructions from a judge undergoing stress. Court proceedings may lead to stress in instances where the case being heard contains some traumatic events. The evidence produced may be grisly and disturbing for those involved in the trial. Example of such a case is the trial of Dena Schlosser where a mother was being accused of mutilating and killing her baby. The case undoubtedly contained deeply disturbing evidence. Such events put the judges in a condition of secondary traumatic stress as they try to picture and decide the trial.
Threats and acts of violence against the judges’ families has been a major problem experienced in the judicial service. This creates a sense of insecurity for anyone working in the judiciary in fear that the same might happen to them. It becomes so stressful for the judges to decide whether to administer justice rightfully or considering the safety of the family first by not making the right judgement to favour the defendant. It is evident that court proceedings lead to stress more so to the judges who oversee the ruling of the case.
