JUDGES in Scotland have been told not to refer to people in court as a “darkey”, “sambo”, Chinky”, or “Paki”.
The instructions, which have been described as “over the top” on the basis that members of the bench do not use such terms, are in new guidance from the judiciary’s official training body.
Judges are also told not to stare at anyone with a disability and to concentrate on what they are saying, not on how they look.
In recent years, judicial faux pas have become less common following training projects aimed at reducing the scope for judges to cause offence, unwittingly or otherwise.
A number of recent cases in England have sparked public outrage. Earlier this year, it emerged that complaints against judge Joanna Greenberg, QC, were being investigated after she sparked controversy by reportedly saying that a pupil had “groomed” her teacher.
Advertisement
In another case, Richard Page, a Christian magistrate, was disciplined over comments at a private hearing in an adoption case for suggesting that it was better for a child to be brought up in a traditional family rather than by a gay couple.
Last December, a district judge, Terence Hollingworth, stepped down and faced investigation after allegedly saying about a victim of harassment: “She’ll only be working in a shop or an off-licence,” adding: “With a name like Patel, and her ethnic background, she won’t be working anywhere important where she can’t get the time off.”
Judges have been warned by the Judicial Institute for Scotland that while the terms “ethnic minority” and “minority ethnic” are generally acceptable, they must avoid using the terms: “Paki”, “negro”, “negroid”, “darkey”, “oriental”, “tink”, “Chinky”, “sambo”, “half-caste”, “coloured” and “ethnics”.
Its new guidance cautions members of the bench: “Within us all there is a potential, unwittingly or unconsciously, to make remarks that might be perceived by some to be prejudicial, offensive or discourteous even if nothing of the sort was intended.
“A minority group may find unintentional prejudice or discrimination, which is not recognised by the perpetrator as such, just as offensive as if it were intentional.”
Advertisement
But the guidance has raised eyebrows. Gordon Jackson, a Glasgow-based QC and former Labour politician, said: “To have guidelines is a good thing but this clearly includes instructions which no judge would need. It’s obviously slightly over the top. I have never come across a judge speaking inappropriately from the bench.”
A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said it was “slightly surprising to see some of these terms which are so obviously and demonstrably insulting and old fashioned mentioned in the guidance”.
But while he questioned the need to include them, he said that overall the guide, which provides instructions on a wide range of ways to ensure equal treatment of all who appear in court, was a valuable document.
A spokesman for the Judicial Office for Scotland, part of the court service that oversees the institute, described the advice on appropriate language as “no more than the expression of common sense”.
He added: “Its articulation does not in any way suggest that inappropriate language or behaviour has been adopted by members of the judiciary in Scotland.”