Nice judges

Shortly after he died last Aug. 21, aged 88, tributes in American papers began to appear for “the world’s nicest judge.” The judge was Frank Caprio, who, as a municipal judge handling fairly simple cases of traffic violations, gained quite a reputation for his court hearings, where he showed compassion, asked questions to establish the context for the cases, and then reduced or modified the penalties, or even dismissed the case.

For some years now, I’ve been able to catch some of those hearings on YouTube, taken from a series called “Caught in Providence,” which was first launched in 1988 for local consumption in Rhode Island and then expanded for national broadcasting starting in 2000. No long deliberations like you see in movies. The judge would ask a few questions to establish the context for the violations, usually revealing difficulties on the part of the defendant, which Judge Caprio would determine to be deserving of compassion.

Some cases involved the judge shifting the blame, for example, a crossing with confusing traffic lights. The case was dismissed, and the judge ordered the city to do something about the lights.

In more cases, the judge would surface family circumstances that would have made it unfair for him to punish the defendant. What seems to have become one of the most popular episodes involved a 96-year-old man, who was ticketed for speeding for the first time in his whole life. The man explained that he drives “my boy” to have blood tests every two weeks. The judge probed some more—the defendant’s “boy” is 65 years old and living with cancer.

The judge dismissed the case, commending the 96-year-old man for his devotion to his son.

There was a sequel to that episode, showing the father, now 100 years old, with the judge at the birthday party.

Now, YouTube is featuring tributes that include the judge’s life story, one of being raised in poverty by first-generation migrants from Italy, and how his father pushed him to go into law to protect the poor.

I first learned about the judge’s death on Rednote, a Chinese app similar to TikTok (which is also Chinese but with a larger Western following), and which I use to practice my Chinese. I was startled to see so many posts on Rednote, tributes still coming in as I write my column more than a month after the judge’s death.

The tributes on Rednote reminded me of a popular Taiwanese TV production that first ran in 1993, revolving around an 11th-century official named Bao Zheng. Reflecting the judicial system at the time, the magistrate had to play the role of Sherlock Holmes, investigating cases and passing judgment then and there. The cases were much more serious than today’s traffic violations, involving instead massive corruption by powerful officials.

The magistrate was known for honesty and uprightness, even impeaching the uncle of the emperor’s favorite concubine and punishing other offenses involving powerful families. He became known as Justice Bao, bao meaning “to protect,” because he would defend peasants and commoners.

The Bao Gong series, mostly semi-fiction but based on a historical figure, was immensely popular not just in Taiwan but also in Hong Kong and in several East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines (where it ran on the now defunct RPN and ABC 5). There were also three video game adaptations made out of the TV series.

And that’s not the end of the story. In 2018, YouTube began to run several episodes of Judge Bao, also about Bao Zheng again struggling against corruption.

The popularity of the American judge Caprio and the Chinese magistrate Bao Zheng, who lived a millennium apart, clearly reflects a yearning for judges who are just, with an appreciation of wisdom that goes with being just.

Magistrate Bao Zheng, from my memories of the TV series, was depicted as stern, with a crescent moon scar on his forehead. He would render judgment, including death sentences, by tossing a scroll where the penalty was written out at the defendant, complete with a booming voice.

Now I ask you, will we ever have a judge we could claim as “nice”? I’d be happy with “nicest in Philippine history,” with enough pride for us to make an entire tele series about—maybe even making it to Netflix or other international streaming services?

Would our “nice” judge be described in Filipino as “mabait” (kind) or “mabuti” (good, in terms of ability and wisdom)? Or could we use both terms?