Should Judges Have More Legal Protections

I read the article in the Albuquerque Journal about Judges wanting and needing more protection from angry or disturbed individuals. As someone who works in the educational field and who has been stalked in the past by a mentally ill student, I can totally understand the feelings of the Judges and their staff. Our society today has less respect for people of authority who work in fields where they come into contact with the public. This can lead to angry or disturbed individuals crossing boundaries that most people in the past would never have thought about crossing. People in public service jobs like law enforcement, healthcare and education want to help people but do not want to put their families in danger of harm. I do disagree with Judge Lang that more laws will somehow make them safer. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that in some cases no law can protect an individual if someone is truly determined to harm them. When you work in a public area you do not have a personal relationship with the people you come into contact with on an everyday bases therefore the laws that protect people against domestic violence don’t apply. In most cases all you can get is a restraining order which, as explained to me by a second district court judge, is no protection at all. The simple truth of the matter is that a piece of paper can not stop someone from harassing or harming either you or your family. Call me cynical but I learned that the hard way. Teaching your family to be careful of strangers and self defense courses are the only measures that appear to work in these types of cases.